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Modelcheck

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Modelcheck

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®

Pro/ENGINEER
Wildfire™ 2.0

ModelCHECK™
Help Topic Collection

Parametric Technology Corporation

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6,665,569 B1 16-December-2003 6,608,623 B1 19 August 2003 4,310,615 21-December-1998
6,625,607 B1 23-September-2003 6,473,673 B1 29-October-2002 4,310,614 30-April-1996
6,580,428 B1 17-June-2003 GB2354683B 04-June-2003 4,310,614 22-April-1999
GB2354684B 02-July-2003 6,447,223 B1 10-Sept-2002 5,297,053 22-March-1994
GB2384125 15-October-2003 6,308,144 23-October-2001 5,513,316 30-April-1996
GB2354096 12-November-2003 5,680,523 21-October-1997 5,689,711 18-November-1997
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Table Of Contents
ModelCHECK .................................................................................................. 1

Using ModelCHECK....................................................................................... 1

About ModelCHECK ................................................................................... 1

About ModelCHECK Teacher........................................................................ 1

About ModelCHECK Licenses ....................................................................... 1

About the Web Browser for the ModelCHECK Report ...................................... 2

To Start ModelCHECK ................................................................................ 2

To Stop ModelCHECK ................................................................................. 2

ModelCHECK Operating Modes ....................................................................... 2

About the ModelCHECK Operating Modes...................................................... 2

To Run ModelCHECK in Interactive Mode ...................................................... 3

Interactive Mode Checks Using ModelCHECK Regenerate ................................ 3

To Run ModelCHECK in Regenerate Mode ..................................................... 4

To Run ModelCHECK in Save Mode .............................................................. 4

About Running ModelCHECK in Batch Mode................................................... 4

To Run ModelCHECK in Batch Mode on UNIX................................................. 5

Example: Text File for Batch Mode............................................................... 5

To Run ModelCHECK in Batch Mode on Windows NT ....................................... 6

To Run ModelCHECK from Distributed Pro/BATCH .......................................... 6

Automatic Corrections in Batch Mode ........................................................... 7

Configuring ModelCHECK .............................................................................. 7

About Configuring ModelCHECK................................................................... 7

To Configure ModelCHECK .......................................................................... 8

Example: ModelCHECK Configuration Files Flow Chart .................................... 9

About Integrating ModelCHECK with a PDM System ....................................... 9

Using ModelCHECK with Windchill...............................................................10

Setting Up the Initialization File: config_init.mc File ......................................10

Setting Up the Condition Files ....................................................................28

v
Table Of Contents

Setting Up the Check Configuration File.......................................................37

Setting Up the Start Configuration File ........................................................87

Setting Up the Constant Configuration File................................................. 108

Setting Up the Status Configuration File .................................................... 113

Using the Spell Checker ............................................................................. 114

About the Spell Checker .......................................................................... 114

To Use the Spell Checker ........................................................................ 115

Spell Checker Dictionaries ....................................................................... 115

ModelCHECK Reports................................................................................. 115

About ModelCHECK Reports ..................................................................... 115

To Configure Report Titles ....................................................................... 116

To Use the ModelCHECK Report................................................................ 116

Example: Modifying the msg_mcmsg.txt File ............................................. 117

Summary Reports .................................................................................. 118

Optimizing ModelCHECK ............................................................................ 119

About Optimizing ModelCHECK for Speed .................................................. 119

RuleCHECK .............................................................................................. 120

About RuleCHECK................................................................................... 120

To Start RuleCHECK ............................................................................... 120

Types of Rules ....................................................................................... 120

Defining Rules ....................................................................................... 121

Implementing RuleCHECK ....................................................................... 122

Integrating RuleCHECK with ModelCHECK.................................................. 123

Example: Using RuleCHECK ..................................................................... 123

Using GeomIntegrityCHECK........................................................................ 124

About GeomIntegrityCHECK .................................................................... 124

To Set Up GeomIntegrityCHECK ............................................................... 124

To Start GeomIntegrityCHECK ................................................................. 125

Setting Check Criteria ............................................................................. 126

GeomIntegrityCHECK Configuration Options and Their Settings .................... 126

All Geom Type Checks ............................................................................ 128

vi
Table Of Contents

Curve and Drawing Checks ...................................................................... 143

Surface Checks ...................................................................................... 144

Face Checks .......................................................................................... 147

Topology Checks .................................................................................... 149

Solids Checks ........................................................................................ 151

Metrics Program ....................................................................................... 154

About the Metrics Program ...................................................................... 154

To Install the Metrics Program ................................................................. 154

To Set Up the Metrics Program................................................................. 154

Index ......................................................................................................... 157

vii
ModelCHECK

Using ModelCHECK

About ModelCHECK
ModelCHECK is an integrated application that runs transparently within
Pro/ENGINEER. ModelCHECK uses a configurable list of company design standards
and best modeling practices. It can be configured to run interactively as well as
automatically when you regenerate or save a model.
ModelCHECK:
• Analyzes parts, drawings, and assemblies.

• Verifies compliance with standards and proper Pro/ENGINEER modeling

techniques and immediately flags modeling violations.

• Presents the results of the analysis and recommends improvements in the form
of a dynamic HTML report. The ModelCHECK report appears in the browser
embedded in Pro/ENGINEER.

• Promotes the use of standard design practices to improve the effectiveness of

downstream users and design reuse.

About ModelCHECK Teacher

You may not always know what causes the problems or errors identified by
ModelCHECK. ModelCHECK Teacher is a series of Web pages containing information
about common modeling errors and how to fix them. It may help you avoid errors in
the future.
To access the online help for a check, click the icon to the left of each item in a
report. This loads a page with information specific to the check. These pages have
links to the Pro/ENGINEER Help for additional information. For checks that need
detailed explanation, another link on the same page takes you to a ModelCHECK
Teacher page that explains the check in greater depth and references additional
help.
ModelCHECK's Teacher pages have references to the Pro/ENGINEER Help for
additional information.

About ModelCHECK Licenses

ModelCHECK has two types of licenses:
• ModelCHECK Option

This license is independent of the Pro/ENGINEER license. The license is checked

out when ModelCHECK is run for the first time during a Pro/ENGINEER session. If
a license is not available, a message appears.

1
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Note: If ModelCHECK is not used for 15 minutes, the license is automatically

released for another user. The license is acquired again when ModelCHECK is run.

• ModelCHECK Extension

This license is linked to a Pro/ENGINEER license. As the license is a part of

Pro/ENGINEER, it does not need to be checked out. This license is included in the
following packages:

o Pro/ENGINEER Foundation II

o Pro/ENGINEER Foundation Value Pack

o Pro/ENGINEER Foundation Value Pack II

o Flexible Engineering

o Flexible Engineering II

About the Web Browser for the ModelCHECK Report

The ModelCHECK report appears in the browser embedded in Pro/ENGINEER. Outside
Pro/ENGINEER, you can view the report on a DOM2 (Document Object Model Level
2) compliant browser (Netscape 6.0 or higher and Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher).

To Start ModelCHECK
1. Start Pro/ENGINEER.

2. Click Analysis > ModelCHECK > ModelCHECK Interactive.

Note: You can limit or disable ModelCHECK with the MC_ENABLE configuration option
located in the config_init.mc file.

To Stop ModelCHECK
In Interactive mode of ModelCHECK, you can stop it by clicking the red stop button
in the lower-right corner of the Pro/ENGINEER window.
In Batch mode, use the Task Manager or kill the ModelCHECK process to stop
ModelCHECK.

ModelCHECK Operating Modes

About the ModelCHECK Operating Modes

You can run ModelCHECK in four ways, depending on how it is configured.
• Interactive Mode—Runs ModelCHECK when you click Analysis > ModelCHECK
in Pro/ENGINEER.

• Regenerate Mode—Runs ModelCHECK after every regeneration. Running

ModelCHECK in Regenerate mode is the most effective use of ModelCHECK. In

2
ModelCHECK

this mode, ModelCHECK automatically runs every time you regenerate the model.
Problems are found immediately after they occur when they are easier to correct.

• Save Mode—Runs ModelCHECK after every save operation.

• Batch Mode—Runs ModelCHECK outside of Pro/ENGINEER. Use Batch mode to

run ModelCHECK on a number of parts, assemblies, or drawings.

You can customize each mode to run a different set of checks.

To Run ModelCHECK in Interactive Mode

1. Click Analysis > ModelCHECK to interactively run ModelCHECK on the current
model. The ModelCHECK menu appears.

2. Click ModelCHECK Interactive to check your model quickly.

3. Click ModelCHECK Regenerate to run all ModelCHECK checks, additional

checks, and to regenerate the model.

Note: ModelCHECK Regenerate can take some time to complete.

Determine which checks should run during Interactive mode by setting options in the
check configuration file.

Interactive Mode Checks Using ModelCHECK Regenerate

When you click Analysis > ModelCHECK > ModelCHECK Regenerate, the
following checks, in addition to the ModelCHECK checks, are run in Pro/ENGINEER:

In Part Mode
• Regenerates the model in the same way as when you click Utilities > Model
Player > Regenerate features > Finish in Pro/ENGINEER. This ensures that
the part can be fully regenerated and, if necessary, prints warning messages in
the ModelCHECK report.

• Verifies all instances if the part is a generic representative of a family.

• Checks that all simplified representations can be regenerated.

• Checks that all cross-sections can be regenerated.

Note: All the above part mode checks are run in ModelCHECK Regenerate. You
cannot choose to not run any of the above checks.

In Assembly Mode
Regenerates the top-level assembly and components as selected.

In Drawing Mode
• Regenerates all views in Drawing mode.

3
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

• Reports any missing dimensional references (set the REGEN_DIM check in the
check configuration file).

• Performs all the checks for Part mode if you choose to run ModelCHECK
Regenerate on the drawing models.

To Run ModelCHECK in Regenerate Mode

Perform the following steps to run ModelCHECK when the model is regenerated:
1. Set the MODE_RUN configuration option to Y in the Regenerate Mode (R) column of
the config_init.mc file.

2. Regenerate your Pro/ENGINEER model.

If ModelCHECK runs successfully, a message appears in the Pro/ENGINEER

window. If errors or warnings are found, ModelCHECK generates a report in your
Web browser.

Note: You should configure ModelCHECK to run only the most important checks in
Regenerate mode (such as buried feature check, children of rounds check) and not
the information checks. ModelCHECK then notifies you only when there is a critical
mistake.

To Run ModelCHECK in Save Mode

Perform the following steps to run ModelCHECK when the model is saved:
1. Set the MODE_RUN option to Y in the Save Mode (S) column of the
config_init.mc file.

2. Set the SAVE_MC_PRE option in the config_init.mc file to:

o Y—To run ModelCHECK before you save.

o N—To run ModelCHECK after you save.

3. Save the Pro/ENGINEER model.

Note: To ensure that the parameters ModelCHECK writes to the model are saved
with it, set the SAVE_MC_PRE option to Y.

About Running ModelCHECK in Batch Mode

You can run ModelCHECK on a batch of models in the following ways:
• Using Batch mode of ModelCHECK

In this method, ModelCHECK is run using a text file that has the list of models to
be checked. The procedure is different for the UNIX and Windows NT platforms.
The models to be checked must be stored on disk.

• Using Distributed Pro/BATCH

4
ModelCHECK

In this method, ModelCHECK is run through Distributed Pro/BATCH. You can

directly select the models to be checked or select the files that list the models to
be checked.

Note: You must have a license for Distributed Pro/BATCH.

To Run ModelCHECK in Batch Mode on UNIX

1. Open a UNIX command window.

2. Create a text file in which you list the models you want checked. The text file
must have the .txt extension. There must be one model file name per line.

Note: You can also check a single model. In this case, a text file is not
necessary.

3. Type <command to start modelcheck> <command to start Pro/ENGINEER> -f

<file>.txt where <file>.txt is the name of a text file listing the models. If the
<file>.txt file is not in the current directory, specify the complete path of the
file. A summary report appears listing the models checked and the number of
problems found.

Note:

o To check a single model, omit the -f option. Specify the name of the model
or the path if it is in a different directory.

o If the start commands are unknown, specify the complete path of the shell
scripts to start ModelCHECK and Pro/ENGINEER. The shell scripts are in the
bin directory in the Pro/ENGINEER loadpoint. The default start commands
are modelcheck and proe, respectively. However, the names of the
commands can be customized during installation. The names of the
commands are generally the same as the names of the shell scripts.

For example, type one of the following commands:

modelcheck proe -f <file>.txt

<proengineer-loadpoint>/bin/modelcheck <proengineer-
loadpoint>/bin/proe -f <file>.txt

4. In the summary report, click a listed model name to see that model’s
ModelCHECK report.

Example: Text File for Batch Mode

If the <file>.txt file has the following lines:
part1.prt
part2.prt
asm1.asm
drw.drw

ModelCHECK checks the four named models and creates reports for each one.

5
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Two methods for creating the text files follow:

• Type: ls -1 *.prt.* *.asm.* *.drw.* > parts.lst

• Write a shell program to automatically run ModelCHECK in Batch mode on every

file in a directory. It looks like the following lines:

ls -1 .prt. .asm. .drw. > /tmp/parts.lst

mc -f /tmp/parts.lst
rm /tmp/parts.lst

To Run ModelCHECK in Batch Mode on Windows NT

1. Click Programs > Pro ENGINEER > ModelCHECK.

Note: Alternatively, run the batch file for ModelCHECK from the bin directory in
the Pro/ENGINEER loadpoint to start ModelCHECK. The default batch file for
ModelCHECK is modelcheck.bat.

2. Select the model on which you want to run ModelCHECK or select a text file that
specifies a list of file names.

3. Type the command to start Pro/ENGINEER.

Note: If the command to start Pro/ENGINEER is not known, browse to the bin
directory in the Pro/ENGINEER loadpoint and run the batch file to start
Pro/ENGINEER. The default batch file is proe.bat, but a different name can be
specified during installation.

Note: From a DOS window, you can create a file called parts.lst that contains all
Pro/ENGINEER models from a specified directory. To do this, type the following
command:
dir *.prt.* *.asm.* *.drw.* /b > parts.lst

To Run ModelCHECK from Distributed Pro/BATCH

You can select ModelCHECK as an operation to be run from Distributed Pro/BATCH.
1. Set the MC_BATCH_REPORT_DIR environment variable to a directory where the
ModelCHECK report files must be written.

Note: If you do not set the MC_BATCH_REPORT_DIR environment variable or if the

specified directory does not have write permissions, Distributed Pro/BATCH writes
the report files to the output directory specified in the ModelCHECK task group.

2. Start Distributed Pro/BATCH.

3. Select the models to be checked or select a text file, or files, having the list of
models to be checked.

4. Choose whether you want ModelCHECK to run on the current computer or across
several computers.

Note: To run ModelCHECK across several computers, each computer must have a
ModelCHECK and Pro/ENGINEER license. If a computer does not have a license,

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ModelCHECK

the Distributed Services Queue Manager reassigns the task appropriately.

ModelCHECK ensures that the correct configuration files are used and the reports
are stored in the appropriate directories.

5. Run the batch process. ModelCHECK generates and writes reports for each model
to the specified directory.

6. In your Web browser, browse to the required ModelCHECK report file and open it.
The report is similar to the report generated in Interactive mode.

See the Distributed Pro/BATCH Help for details about running ModelCHECK from
Distributed Pro/BATCH.

Automatic Corrections in Batch Mode

The following automatic corrections are performed in Batch mode:
• Adds items to layers

• Adds relations and comments.

• Changes the layer display status

• Creates layers

• Deletes extra layers

• Creates parameters (if their values are known)

• Deletes extra parameters

• Fully regenerates the model from the first feature and reports any problems

• Moves items between layers

• Designates parameters for PDM tools

• Renames datums

• Renames layers

• Saves the model

These corrections are performed in the ModelCHECK Batch mode as well as when
ModelCHECK is run through Distributed Pro/BATCH. ModelCHECK automatically
checks a corrected model a second time to update the reports and save the model.
Note: If ModelCHECK is run in Batch mode, a Pro/ENGINEER license is required,
because the models must be accessed in Pro/ENGINEER.

Configuring ModelCHECK

About Configuring ModelCHECK

You can configure ModelCHECK to run different checks at different times. For
example:

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

• ModelCHECK Interactive—Checks the currently active model.

• ModelCHECK Regenerate—Regenerates the active model and then checks it.

You can also configure ModelCHECK to report problems using the PTC ModelCHECK
Configuration Tool dialog box.
The following text files store the configuration options:
• config_init.mc (initialization file)

• condition.mcc (condition file)

• setconf.mcc (condition file)

• <filename>.mch (check configuration file)

• <filename>.mcs (start configuration file)

• <filename>.mcn (constant configuration file)

• <filename>.mcq (status configuration file)

In addition, the following text files store the values required while checking models:
• <filename>.txt (external file)

• <filename>.mcg (group file)

The configuration files are located in <modelcheck-

loadpoint>/text/<language>/config.
Use the $MCDIR environment variable to specify an alternative location for the
config directory. Files in the alternative location override the default settings.
Use the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box to set the options in the
ModelCHECK configuration files or manually edit the configuration files.
The PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box allows you to:
• Access the existing and newly created configuration files from the left pane.

• Select items from boxes to set options in the ModelCHECK configuration files.

• Save the configuration files.

• Create configuration files.

• See the help for the configuration files on the top of the right pane and the
details of the configuration options in the bottom pane.

To Configure ModelCHECK
1. Click Analysis > ModelCHECK > Configure ModelCHECK. The PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box opens.

2. Use the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box to set the options in
the ModelCHECK configuration files.

Note:

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ModelCHECK

• The system administrator can limit access to the configuration files using file
permissions. The PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool recognizes the
permissions and does not allow unauthorized access to the configuration files.

• Changes to the configuration files are not effective unless you save the files.

Example: ModelCHECK Configuration Files Flow Chart

About Integrating ModelCHECK with a PDM System

You can exchange information about a model between ModelCHECK and a PDM
system.
• You can configure ModelCHECK to add four parameters to the model file each
time ModelCHECK is run on the model:

o MODEL_CHECK—(string) The date and time that ModelCHECK was last run.

o MC_ERRORS—(integer) The number of errors found.

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

o MC_CONFIG—(string) The name or names of the configuration file or files

used.

o MC_MODE—(string) The mode in which ModelCHECK was run; Interactive,

Regenerate, Save, Batch, or MC Regen.

To see these parameters from within Pro/PDM or Pro/INTRALINK, attributes with

the same names and types must be created from within Pro/PDM or the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace using the Pro/ADMIN tool.

Note: You can see but not change the values of these parameters.

You can then program Pro/INTRALINK to allow the check-in of only those models
with the previous parameters set to specified values. For example, you can write
a trigger to deny the check-in of models with errors (MC_ERRORS is greater than
0.)

• You can also configure ModelCHECK to use the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace to

store the shape information for models. The shape information is stored in seven
parameters (MC_SI1 to MC_SI7) for use in searches for duplicate models.

Using ModelCHECK with Windchill

You can use ModelCHECK to verify the models being checked into the Windchill
database. Windchill allows the check-in process only when the model meets the
design standards.
Windchill uses the MODEL_CHECK, MC_ERRORS, and MC_CONFIG parameters to create
corresponding instance-based attributes (IBAs). Windchill creates these attributes
when the model is uploaded to the Windchill server.
You can create a ModelCHECK filter in Windchill to define the values that the IBAs
must have for a successful check-in. During the check-in process, Windchill uses the
filter to verify whether the values of the IBAs match the requirements.
If the model does not meet the requirements, Windchill generates a report specifying
the reasons. After updating the model, click Run ModelCHECK Now from the report
to run ModelCHECK again. Use the ModelCHECK filter to define the configuration files
that ModelCHECK must use for models that have failed the check-in.
Note: You can run ModelCHECK from the report only if you checkin the model from
Pro/ENGINEER.

Setting Up the Initialization File: config_init.mc File

About the config_init.mc File

Use the config_init.mc file to specify initialization settings for ModelCHECK. This
file is read when Pro/ENGINEER starts and ModelCHECK initializes. If you make
changes to the file, you must restart Pro/ENGINEER.

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ModelCHECK

To Set Up the config_init.mc File Using the PTC ModelCHECK

Configuration Tool
1. Click adjacent to Initialization settings in the left pane of the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click Edit config_init.mc. A table listing all the configuration options in the
config_init.mc file and their values appears in the right pane of the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. The configuration options are
divided into three sections according to the values to which you can set the
options.

3. Edit the configuration options and their values using the boxes.

You can add and delete rows to add and delete configuration options,
respectively.

4. Click Save.

Note: Changes to the config_init.mc file are not effective in the current
Pro/ENGINEER session. Restart Pro/ENGINEER.

To Manually Set Up the config_init.mc File

1. Open the config_init.mc file using a text editor. This file exists in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config or in the directory
you have specified with the $MCDIR environment variable.

2. Set the options to a value for each ModelCHECK mode. Each mode is in a
separate column. The modes are abbreviated as follows:

o I—Interactive

o B—Batch

o R—Regenerate

o S—Save

3. Set values for all initialization options.

Note: You can use spaces in the name of a directory without enclosing it in
quotes.

4. Restart Pro/ENGINEER each time you enter or change a value in the

config_init.mc file.

Configuration Options in the config_init.mc File

The option name, values to which it can be set, and a definition are listed
alphabetically for each configuration option in the config_init.mc file.
• ADD_CONFIG_PARM

<Y/N/A>

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Creates a parameter called MC_CONFIG in all models that are checked. This
parameter contains the names of the ModelCHECK configuration files used for a
final check of the model.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• ADD_DATE_PARM

<Y/N>

Creates a parameter called MODEL_CHECK in the model files of all models that are
checked. This parameter contains the date and time when ModelCHECK was last
run.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• ADD_DUP_INFO_AUTO

Configures how duplicate model information is written to the directory specified

by the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE configuration option.

o Y—Always adds the model to the database.

o N—Never adds the model information to the database.

o A—Always asks the user before adding to or overwriting the existing

information.

o D—Adds the model information but does not overwrite the existing
information.

When information is added to the directory, ModelCHECK searches the directory

for models with the same name. If a model with the same name is found, you
can overwrite the existing data or cancel the addition.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• ADD_ERR_PARM

<Y/N>

Creates a parameter called MC_ERRORS in all models that are checked. This
parameter contains the number of errors found in the model when ModelCHECK
was last run.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• ADD_MODE_PARM

<Y/N/A>

Creates a parameter called MC_MODE in all models that are checked. This
parameter contains the mode in which ModelCHECK was run on the model.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

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ModelCHECK

• ASM_BATCH_ALL

<Y/N>

Automatically recourses through all components of an assembly when

ModelCHECK is run in Batch mode. Every subassembly and part in the assembly
is checked, and a separate report is generated for each of them.

• ASYNC_PORT

Specifies the communications port between ModelCHECK and Pro/ENGINEER to

allow feature highlighting and updating. This port number can be from 1000 to
70000. The default is 3001.

ModelCHECK opens this port when Pro/ENGINEER is started. This port remains in
use for the duration of the session.

If during startup ModelCHECK detects another process using the default port, it
increases the port number by 10 and tries again. ModelCHECK repeats this
procedure 5 times before displaying an error message and disabling Java.

• BURIED_ADVANCED

<Y/N>

o Y—Conducts a computation-intensive analysis of the model to confirm

whether the features reported by the BURIED_FEAT check are actually
buried features.

o N—Uses only the BURIED_FEAT check to check for buried features.

• CHECK_ALL_MODELS

<Y/N>

Specifies whether ModelCHECK must check all the models of an assembly

irrespective of whether the models have been changed after they were retrieved
or the value of the MC_ERRORS parameter.

o Y—Always checks all models ignoring the setting of the SKIP_MODELS

configuration option.

o N—Checks models according to the setting of the SKIP_MODELS

configuration option.

• DIR_REPORT

Specifies the path to a directory in which ModelCHECK reports are to be written.

If the specified directory does not exist or is specified incorrectly, reports are
placed in the directory from which Pro/ENGINEER was started.

If ModelCHECK is running on a server and is used by many clients, it is suggested

that each user have his or her own report directory. To do this, create a directory

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

called mc_reports as a subdirectory of your home directory. Then set the

DIR_REPORT configuration option to $HOME/mc_reports.

To optimize ModelCHECK for speed, place the directory specified by the

DIR_REPORT configuration option on your machine.

Note: This option is used only if the DIR_REPORT_NT or DIR_REPORT_U

configuration options are not set.

• DIR_REPORT_NT

Specifies the path on Windows NT to a directory in which ModelCHECK reports

are to be written. If this option is not set, the DIR_REPORT configuration option is
used.

• DIR_REPORT_U

Specifies the path on UNIX to a directory in which ModelCHECK reports are to be

written. On a UNIX system, you can specify the /tmp directory to write the report
files to, so that the directory is cleaned each time the machine is rebooted.

If this option is not set, the DIR_REPORT configuration option is used.

• DIR_MC_DUP_READ

Specifies the path to a directory from which duplicate model information is read.
ModelCHECK reads a file called mc_dup_model.bin from this location. The
directory specified by the DIR_MC_DUP_READ configuration option should be a
common directory for all users.

Reuse this option up to 50 times to specify more than one location to read from.
Use a new line for every location.

Note: This option is used only if the DIR_MC_DUP_READ_NT or DIR_MC_DUP_READ_U

configuration options are not set. If none of the options are set, the directory
from which Pro/ENGINEER was started is used by default.

• DIR_MC_DUP_READ_NT

Specifies the path on Windows NT to a directory from which duplicate model

information is read. If this option is not set, the DIR_MC_DUP_READ configuration
option is used.

• DIR_MC_DUP_READ_U

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ModelCHECK

Specifies the path on UNIX to a directory from which duplicate model information
is read. If this option is not set, the DIR_MC_DUP_READ configuration option is
used.

• DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE

Specifies the path to a directory in which duplicate model information is written.

The directory specified by the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE configuration option should be
a central directory for all users.

ModelCHECK writes a file called mc_dup_model.bin to this location when you exit
Pro/ENGINEER.

Note: This option is used only if the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE_NT or

DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE_U configuration options are not set. If none of the options are
set, the directory from which Pro/ENGINEER was started is used by default.

• DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE_NT

Specifies the path on Windows NT to a directory in which duplicate model

information is written. If this option is not set, the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE
configuration option is used.

• DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE_U

Specifies the path on UNIX to a directory in which duplicate model information is

written. If this option is not set, the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE configuration option is
used.

• DIR_MC_PREVIEW_NT

Specifies the path on Windows NT to a directory in which the temporary files

created by the preview process are stored. If this option is not set, the
DIR_MC_PREVIEW configuration option is used.

• DIR_MC_PREVIEW_U

Specifies the path on UNIX to a directory in which the temporary files created by
the preview process are stored. If this option is not set, the DIR_MC_PREVIEW
configuration option is used.

• DIR_MC_PREVIEW

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Specifies the path to a directory in which the temporary files created by the
preview process are stored. The default path is c:\Temp (Windows NT) or /tmp
(UNIX).

Note: This option is used only if the DIR_MC_PREVIEW_NT or DIR_MC_PREVIEW_U

configuration options are not set. If none of the options are set, the directory
from which Pro/ENGINEER was started is used by default.

• DIR_METRICS

Specifies the path to a directory in which metrics flat files are written. The
directory specified by the DIR_METRICS configuration option should be a common
directory for all users, for easy compilation and management of the flat files.

For performance reasons, the flat file is initially written to the directory specified
by the DIR_REPORT configuration option and is moved to the directory specified
by the DIR_METRICS configuration option when you exit Pro/ENGINEER.

Note: This option is used only if the DIR_METRICS_NT or DIR_METRICS_U

configuration options are not set. If none of the options are set, the directory
from which Pro/ENGINEER was started is used by default.

• DIR_METRICS_NT

Specifies the path on Windows NT to a directory in which metrics flat files are
written. If this option is not set, the DIR_METRICS configuration option is used.

• DIR_METRICS_U

Specifies the path on UNIX to a directory in which metrics flat files are written. If
this option is not set, the DIR_METRICS configuration option is used.

• DRW_SHEET_ALL

<Y/N/A>

Runs ModelCHECK on drawings with multiple sheets.

o Y—Runs ModelCHECK automatically on all sheets.

o A—Prompts you whether to run ModelCHECK on the current sheet or on all

sheets.

o N—Runs ModelCHECK only on the current sheet.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• HIGHLIGHT_COLOR

Specifies the color used to highlight objects in Pro/ENGINEER.

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• HTML_FILE_OUTPUT

<Y/N>

Creates HTML-based summary reports and writes them to the directory specified
by the DIR_REPORT configuration option.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• HTML_MAX_DAYS

Specifies the maximum number of days that ModelCHECK reports are kept.

When you start Pro/ENGINEER and ModelCHECK is initialized, the directory

specified by the DIR_REPORT configuration option is scanned for reports that are
older than the specified number of days. If any are found, they are deleted.

If the HTML_MAX_DAYS configuration option is not specified, the purge is not done.

• ILNK_MC_DUP_FLDR

Specifies the complete path to the folders that the mcilchkout application must
search for duplicate models.

Reuse this option up to 50 times to search more than one folder. Use a new line
for every folder as follows:

o ILNK_MC_DUP_FLDR <root_dir>/<dir1>

o ILNK_MC_DUP_FLDR <root_dir>/<dir2>

ModelCHECK recursively searches the subdirectories.

• ILNK_MC_PRVW_SCRPT

<path>

Specifies the path to the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script (in the bin
directory of the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT loadpoint) to execute the mcilchkout
application. The mcilchkout application allows duplicate models in the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace to be previewed from the ModelCHECK report.

• ILNK_MC_SRCH_SCRPT

<path>

Specifies the path to the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script (in the bin
directory of the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT loadpoint) to execute the mcilsearch
application. The mcilsearch application searches for duplicate models.

• INTRALINK_DUPINFO

<Y/N>

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

o Y—Creates read-only parameters to store the shape information for models

in the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace. ModelCHECK then searches the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace for duplicate models.

o N—Stores the shape information for models in a place other than the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace.

• MC_ENABLE

<Y/N/A>

o Y—Enables ModelCHECK all the time.

o N—Disables ModelCHECK.

o A—Prompts you when Pro/ENGINEER starts whether to enable ModelCHECK

or not.

• MC_METRICS

<Y/N>

Specifies whether ModelCHECK must generate metrics files for use in the metrics
package.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• MC_VDA_RUN

<Y/N>

Runs the GeomIntegrityCHECK utility along with ModelCHECK in all the

ModelCHECK operating modes.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• MODE_RUN

<Y/N>

Specifies the operating mode in which ModelCHECK will run. Set to Y to run and
to N to turn ModelCHECK off in each mode.

• MODE_UPDATE

<Y/N>

Sets ModelCHECK to allow updating of wrong or missing features. For this option
to work properly, your browser must support Java. You can then update these
features from the ModelCHECK report.

In Batch mode, corrections are automatically made to models, and the models
are saved. In other modes, you must save the models after changes have been
made.

Note: Set this configuration option for each operating mode.

• PARENT_HI_COLOR

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ModelCHECK

Highlights parent objects in Pro/ENGINEER using the specified color. This option
is used only when ModelCHECK simultaneously highlights a problematic feature
and its parents.

• PROGRAM

<Pro/ENGINEER start command>

Specifies the command to start Pro/ENGINEER. This option is used only in Batch
mode.

• SAVE_MC_PRE

About Duplicate Models

ModelCHECK searches for duplicate parts by examining a model’s shape and then
searching the database for similar models.
Note: The DUPLICATE_MODELS check in the check configuration file must be active for
ModelCHECK to report duplicate models.
A line item in the ModelCHECK report indicates duplicate models. Click the line item
for the names of the models found. The following information appears:
• Percent match

• Model units

• Number of features

• Number of datums

• Size of the model (height x width x length)

Click in the ModelCHECK report to see the selected model without having to open
it in Pro/ENGINEER. You can also spin, pan, and zoom the model in the preview
window.

About Storing Shape Information

You can configure how and where ModelCHECK stores shape information using the
config_init.mc file. ModelCHECK also allows you to use the Pro/INTRALINK
Commonspace to store the shape information for models.
If you choose to not use Pro/INTRALINK, the mc_dup_model.bin file is used for
reading shape information. The DIR_MC_DUP_READ configuration option in the
config_init.mc file specifies the path to the mc_dup_model.bin file.
When you exit Pro/ENGINEER after running ModelCHECK on a model, the shape
indexing information is stored in the mc_dupl_<username>_yyyymmddhhmm.bin file in
the path specified by the DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE configuration option in the
config_init.mc file. Ensure that the mc_dupl_<username>_yyyymmddhhmm.bin files
are regularly combined with the mc_dup_model.bin file.

To Create the mc_dup_model.bin File

1. Download the mc_si_merge_20000716.exe (Windows NT) or
mc_si_merge_20000716.sun (UNIX) utilities from
ftp.ptc.com/utils/shape_ind/ to the directory specified by the
DIR_MC_DUP_WRITE configuration option. Use mccust and mc21 as the user name
and password, respectively.

2. Create a file with a list of all the files to be combined with the mc_dup_model.bin
file using one of the following commands:

ls -1 mc_dupl* > list.txt (on UNIX)

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ModelCHECK

dir /b mc_dupl* > list.txt (on DOS)

3. Combine the files with the following command:

mc_si_merge_20000716.exe mc_dup_model.bin [-z] [-f <list.txt>]

where z is used to zoom or change the default value of the search criteria.
ModelCHECK uses a number of shape indexing parameters to compare models to
one another. Two models are considered similar if the values of their
corresponding parameters are within a specific percentage of each other. This
percentage is called the search criteria. The value of the search criteria is 5% by
default.

4. Specify a value for the search criteria. The maximum value is 10%.

Note: If you type a new value for the search criteria, the old value is multiplied
by the new value. If -z is not used in the merge command, you cannot enter a
new value and the existing value is used.

A new mc_dup_model.bin file is created in the current directory or appended to

an existing file.

5. Copy the created mc_dup_model.bin file to the directory specified by the

DIR_MC_DUP_READ configuration option.

Note: When information is added to the mc_dup_model.bin file, ModelCHECK

searches the file for models with the same name. If a model with the same name is
found, its information is overwritten with the latest information.

About Using the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace

Using the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace allows you to store shape information for
different versions of each model. Set the INTRALINK_DUPINFO configuration option in
the config_init.mc file to Y to store the shape information for models in the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace. In addition, set the ADD_DATE_PARM, ADD_ERR_PARM,
ADD_CONFIG_PARM, ADD_MODE_PARM, and ADD_DUP_INFO_AUTO configuration options in
the config_init.mc file to Y.
Note: Pro/INTRALINK Client and Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT must be installed and you
must have a Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT access license. In addition, you must set the
PDM_LDB_PATH environment variable to the path of the directory containing the .proi
directory.
When ModelCHECK runs on a model, the following read-only parameters (in addition
to MODEL_CHECK, MC_ERRORS, MC_CONFIG, and MC_MODE) are created in
Pro/ENGINEER:
• Volume (MC_SI1)

• Surface area (MC_SI2)

• Principal Moment of Inertia 1 (MC_SI3)

• Principal Moment of Inertia 2 (MC_SI4)

• Principal Moment of Inertia 3 (MC_SI5)

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• Parameter for units (MC_SI6)

• Parameter for length and mass conversion factors (MC_SI7)

When a model is saved, these parameters store the shape attributes. These
parameters are automatically stored as versioned object attributes in the
Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace when you check in the model.
Note: The Pro/INTRALINK Database Administrator must create the versioned
attributes of type string with no default values and also give permissions to change
the values.
ModelCHECK uses the versioned or life-cycle (for legacy parts) shape attributes
stored in the Commonspace to search for duplicate models. You can specify the
tolerance percentage for the attributes using options in the constant configuration
file. Only those models with all the attributes within the tolerance range are
considered as duplicate models and are reported.
For models with family tables, the parameters MC_SI1 through MC_SI7 are added to
the family table when ModelCHECK is run on the generic model. For the shape
information of all instances to be available in the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace, you
must verify the family table before checking the model into Pro/INTRALINK.
Note: Family table verification changes the model resulting in a new version of the
model in Pro/INTRALINK.

About Using the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace for Legacy Models

Shape attributes for legacy models are stored as life-cycle attributes. These
attributes allow addition of shape information to the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace
without creating a new version.
Note: The Pro/INTRALINK Database Administrator must create the life-cycle
attributes of type string with no default values for the shape parameters and also
give permissions to change the values.

To Set Up the mcilupdLCA Application

You can use the Pro/INTRALINK application, mcilupdLCA, to read the versioned
object attributes of legacy models checked out into your Workspace and update the
corresponding life-cycle attributes in the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace. Before using
this application, checkout the required earlier versions of the legacy models, run
ModelCHECK on all legacy models in the Workspace and save them to ensure
creation of the versioned object attributes.
1. Copy the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script or batch file and save it as:

mcilupdLCA.sh (UNIX) or

mcilupdLCA.bat (Windows NT)

Note: The Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script is located in the bin

directory of the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT loadpoint.

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2. Add the following lines to the beginning of the mcilupdLCA.sh or

mcilupdLCA.bat files:

setenv PDM_USER <Intralink_user>

setenv PDM_PASSWD <Intralink_passwd> (UNIX)

set PDM_USER=<Intralink_user>
set PDM_PASSWD=<Intralink_passwd> (Windows NT)

where <Intralink_user> and <Intralink_passwd> are the Pro/INTRALINK user

name and password respectively.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following lines to the

mcilupdLCA.sh script:

setenv PDM_USER INTRALINK

setenv PDM_PASSWD INTRALINK

o On Windows NT, add the following lines to the mcilupdLCA.bat batch file:

set PDM_USER=INTRALINK
set PDM_PASSWD=INTRALINK

3. Add the following line to the mcilupdLCA.sh or mcilupdLCA.bat files:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/<machine_type>/obj/mcilupdLCA $* (UNIX) or

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\<machine_type>\obj\mcilupdLCA.exe %1 %2
(Windows NT)

Note: On Windows NT, you must add the above line just before :ptc_end.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following line to the

mcilupdLCA.sh script:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/sun4_solaris/obj/mcilupdLCA $*

o On Windows NT, add the following line to the mcilupdLCA.bat batch file:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\i486_nt\obj\mcilupdLCA.exe %1 %2

4. Specify the name of the Workspace where you have checked out the legacy
models and have run ModelCHECK on them, as the argument to the script.

This updates the life-cycle attributes in the Pro/INTRALINK Commonspace for the
checked-out versions.

Note: Do not checkin the legacy models as this creates a new version. Instead,
delete them from the Workspace.

To Set Up the mcilsearch Application

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The mcilsearch application searches for duplicate models.

1. Copy the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script or batch file and save it as:

mcilsearch.sh (UNIX) or

mcilsearch.bat (Windows NT)

Note: The Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script is located in the bin

directory of the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT loadpoint.

2. Add the following lines to the beginning of the mcilsearch.sh or

mcilsearch.bat files:

setenv PDM_USER <Intralink_user>

setenv PDM_PASSWD <Intralink_passwd> (UNIX)

set PDM_USER=<Intralink_user>
set PDM_PASSWD=<Intralink_passwd> (Windows NT)

where <Intralink_user> and <Intralink_passwd> are the Pro/INTRALINK login

id and password respectively.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following lines to the

mcilsearch.sh script:

setenv PDM_USER INTRALINK

setenv PDM_PASSWD INTRALINK

o On Windows NT, add the following lines to the mcilsearch.bat batch file:

set PDM_USER=INTRALINK
set PDM_PASSWD=INTRALINK

3. Add the following line to the mcilsearch.sh or mcilsearch.bat files:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/<machine_type>/obj/mcilsearch $* (UNIX) or

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\<machine_type>\obj\mcilsearch.exe %1 %2 %3
(Windows NT)

Note: On Windows NT, you must add the above line just before :ptc_end.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following line to the

mcilsearch.sh script:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/sun4_solaris/obj/mcilsearch $*

o On Windows NT, add the following line to the mcilsearch.bat batch file:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\i486_nt\obj\mcilsearch.exe %1 %2

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ModelCHECK

4. Set the ILNK_MC_SRCH_SCRPT configuration option in the config_init.mc file to

the path to the mcilsearch.sh or mcilsearch.bat files.

To Set Up the mcilchkout Application

The mcilchkout application allows duplicate models in the Pro/INTRALINK
Commonspace to be previewed from the ModelCHECK report.
1. Copy the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script or batch file and save it as:

mcilchkout.sh (UNIX) or

mcilchkout.bat (Windows NT)

Note: The Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT execution script is located in the bin

directory of the Pro/INTRALINK TOOLKIT loadpoint.

2. Add the following lines to the beginning of the mcilchkout.sh or

mcilchkout.bat files:

setenv PDM_USER <Intralink_user>

setenv PDM_PASSWD <Intralink_passwd> (UNIX)

set PDM_USER=<Intralink_user>
set PDM_PASSWD=<Intralink_passwd> (Windows NT)

where <Intralink_user> and <Intralink_passwd> are the Pro/INTRALINK login

id and password respectively.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following lines to the

mcilchkout.sh script:

setenv PDM_USER INTRALINK

setenv PDM_PASSWD INTRALINK

o On Windows NT, add the following lines to the mcilchkout.bat batch file:

set PDM_USER=INTRALINK
set PDM_PASSWD=INTRALINK

3. Add the following line to the mcilchkout.sh or mcilchkout.bat files:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/<machine_type>/obj/mcilchkout $* (UNIX) or

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\<machine_type>\obj\mcilchkout.exe %1 %2
(Windows NT)

Note: On Windows NT, you must add the above line just before :ptc_end.

For example:

o On the Solaris operating system, add the following line to the

mcilchkout.sh script:

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>/sun4_solaris/obj/mcilchkout $*

o On Windows NT, add the following line to the mcilchkout.bat batch file:

<Pro/ENGINEER_load_point>\i486_nt\obj\mcilchkout.exe %1 %2

4. Set the ILNK_MC_PRVW_SCRPT configuration option in the config_init.mc file to

the path to the mcilchkout.sh or mcilchkout.bat files.

Setting Up the Condition Files

Setting Up the Condition File: setconf.mcc

About the setconf.mcc File

The setconf.mcc file is also referred to as a condition file. When you click Manually
choose config under Conditional settings in the PTC ModelCHECK
Configuration Tool dialog box and select a configuration, define the configuration
files using the setconf.mcc file.

To Set Up the setconf.mcc File Using the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration

Tool

1. Click adjacent to Conditional settings in the left pane of the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click Edit setconf.mcc. A table listing all the sets of configurations appears in
the right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. Each
set comprises a name and the combination of start, check, constant, and status
configuration files.

3. Edit the sets using the boxes.

o Add and delete rows to add and delete sets, respectively. To add sets, type
the name of the set.

o Add columns to specify more than one start, check, constant,and status
configuration files.

o Delete columns as required.

o Move rows up or down to order the sets.

4. Click Save.

5. Click Manually choose config under Conditional settings in the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. The configuration list appears.

6. Select the configuration you want to use.

To Manually Set Up the setconf.mcc File

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ModelCHECK

1. Open the setconf.mcc file using a text editor. This file is located in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config or in the directory
that you specify with the $MCDIR environment variable. Edit the file to set the
configurations. For example:

PDM=(checks/pdm.mch)(start/pdm.mcs)(constant/pdm.mcn)(status/pdm.mcq)

Light=(checks/simple_checks.mch) (start/default_start.mcs)
(constant/mm.mcn) (status/default_status.mcq)

NoStart=(checks/default_checks.mch) (start/nostart.mcs)
(constant/mm.mcn) (status/default_status.mcq)

2. Save the setconf.mcc file. All the configuration files you list in this file must be
in their respective directories.

3. Click Manually choose config under Conditional settings in the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. The configuration list appears. If
the setconf.mcc file is set as in the previous example, the following
configurations are listed: PDM, Light, NoStart.

4. Select the configuration you want to use.

Setting Up the Condition File: condition.mcc

About the condition.mcc File

The condition.mcc file is also referred to as a condition file. It specifies the
conditions that determine the set of configuration files (start, check, constant, and
status) to be read when you click Automatically set config under Conditional
settings in the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. This file is read
each time you run ModelCHECK.
You can also use the condition.mcc file to override specific checks.
Note: Prior to ModelCHECK Release 3.0, all configuration options were stored in the
config.mc file.

To Set Up the condition.mcc File Using the PTC ModelCHECK

Configuration Tool

1. Click adjacent to Conditional settings in the left pane of the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click Edit condition.mcc. A table listing all the conditions appears in the right
pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box. The check box
for each condition allows you to specify whether ModelCHECK should evaluate the
condition or treat it as a comment.

3. In the Choose View box, select Conditions to edit the SET CONFIG FILE section
of the condition.mcc file.

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

4. Edit the conditions and the combination of configuration files for each condition
using the boxes.

o Click or clear the check box in the COMMENT/UNCOMMENT column.

When you clear the check box, a ! mark is added at the beginning of the
condition in the condition.mcc file. The ! mark indicates that the condition
is a comment.

Note: The PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box only displays
conditions with a ! mark in the condition.mcc file. Comments can also be
indicated with a # mark if you manually edit the condition.mcc file.
However, the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box does not
display conditions with a # mark.

o Add and delete rows to add and delete conditions, respectively.

o Move rows up or down to order the conditions.

o Add columns to specify multiple conditions (corresponding to the AND

operator in the config_init.mc file) and more than one start, check,
constant, and status configuration files.

o Delete columns as required.

5. Specify the default combination of configuration files. If none of the conditions

are true, ModelCHECK uses the default combination, corresponding to the ELSE
statement in the config_init.mc file.

6. In the Choose View box, select Override to edit the OVERRIDE CHECKS section
of the condition.mcc file.

7. Specify conditions to override checks, if any, using the boxes or fields as

applicable.

8. Click or clear the check box in the COMMENT/UNCOMMENT column.

9. Click Save.

To Manually Set Up the condition.mcc File

1. Open the condition.mcc file using a text editor. This file is located in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config or in the directory
specified with the $MCDIR environment variable.

2. Specify the conditions and the combination of configuration files for each
condition.

3. Specify the conditions to override specific checks, if any.

Example: condition.mcc File

! Conditional file for ModelCHECK.

# SET CONFIG FILE

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ModelCHECK

IF (USERNAME EQ finn) config=(check/check_default.mch)

(start/start_finn.mcs) (constant/constant_def.mcn) (status/status_1.mcq)

IF (USERNAME EQ gavin) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH)

config=(check/check_default.mch) (start/start_standard.mcs)
(start/start_gavin.mcs) (constant/constant_inch.mcn)
(status/status_2.mcq)

IF (USERNAME EQ gavin) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM)

config=(check/check_default.mch) (start/start_default.mcs)
(start/start_gavin.mcs) (constant/constant_mm.mcn)
(status/status_generic.mcq)

IF (GROUPNAME EQ CHECKER) config=(check/checks_checker.mch)

(start/start_checker.mcs) (constant/constant_def.mcn)
(status/status_default.mcq)

IF (MODELNAME EQ ec*) config=(check/check_ec.mcs) (start/start_ec.mcs)

(constant/constant_def.mcn) (status/status_generic.mcq)

IF (MODEL_TYPE EQ PRT_SHEETMETAL) config=(check/check_shtmel.mch)

(start/start_shtmtl.mch) (constant/constant_inch.mcn)
(status/status_2.mcq)

IF (FT_GENERIC_PRT) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM)

config=(check/check_generic.mch) (start/start_default.mch)
(constant/constant_mm.mcn) (status/status_1.mcq)

IF (FT_INSTANCE_PRT) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH)

config=(check/check_instance.mch) (start/start_default.mch)
(constant/constant_inch.mcn) (status/status_2.mcq)

IF (MODEL_TYPE EQ PRT_PIPE) config=(check/check_pipe.mch)

(start/start_pipe.mcs) (constant/constant_def.mcn)
(status/status_generic.mcq)

IF (DATE_CREATED GTE 19970418) config=(check/check_default.mch)

(start/sample_start.mcs) (constant/constant_mm.mcn)
(status/status_default.mcq)

IF (PRO_VERSION GTE 199842) config=(check/check_default.mch)

(start/sample_start.mcs) (constant/constant_mm.mcn)
(status/status_generic.mcq)

IF (NOSTART) config=(check/simple_checks.mch) (start/nostart.mcs)

(constant/constant_inch.mcn) (status/status_2.mcq)

IF (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH) config=(check/check_default.mch)

(start/default_start.mcs) (constant/constant_inch.mcn)
(status/status_1.mcq)

IF (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM) config=(check/check_default.mch)

(start/default_start.mcs) (constant/constant_mm.mcn)
(status/status_2.mcq)

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

ELSE config=(check/check_default.mch) (start/start_default.mcs)

(constant/constant_def.mcn) (status/status_default.mcq)

# OVERRIDE CHECKS
IF (NOCHECK) NOCHECK
IF (MODEL_SIZE EQ large) SHARP_EDGES = No
IF (MODEL_SIZE EQ large) SRF_EDGES = No
IF (MODEL_SIZE EQ large) SLA_INFO = No
IF (DRAWN_BY EQ John Wallace) MODEL_NAME = Error

About the SET CONFIG FILE Section of the condition.mcc File

The SET CONFIG FILE section is composed of a series of IF statements followed by
an ELSE statement. When ModelCHECK runs, it reads this list until one of the
equalities is met. If they all fail, the ELSE statement is read and applied.
The first section, SET CONFIG FILE, is where the combination of configuration files is
set depending on the first condition in the list of IF statements that is met.
ModelCHECK evaluates each IF statement and sets the configuration files to the first
instance that is true.
The operators that can be used for comparison are:
• EQ—equal to

• NEQ—not equal to

• GT—greater than

• LT—less than

• GTE—greater than or equal to

• LTE—less than or equal to

Each IF statement can have one or more equalities. If there are several equalities,
they are separated by AND statements. Following the equality statements on each
line is the list of files that are read to form a configuration.

Items You Can Use in Equality Statements

The items you can use in the equality statements follow.

Item Name

User currently logged in USERNAME

User’s group GROUPNAME

Name of the current model MODELNAME

If the model is a generic of a family table FT_GENERIC_PRT and

FT_GENERIC_ASM

If the model is an instance of a family FT_INSTANCE_PRT and

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ModelCHECK

table FT_INSTANCE_ASM

Model units MODEL_UNIT

Version of Pro/ENGINEER PRO_VERSION

Date created DATE_CREATED

Model type MODEL_TYPE

Parameter See Below

In the case of USERNAME, GROUPNAME, MODELNAME, and PARAMETER, variables can be

specified using the following metacharacters:
• *—Any number of characters

• ?—One character

• #—One numerical character

• $—One string character

Examples of valid values include (USERNAME EQ p), (MODELNAME EQ 132.321.),

(PARAMETER EQ ??AC).
MODEL_TYPE allows you to specify a combination of configuration files based on
different part types. The part types are:
• PRT_SOLID

• PRT_SHEETMETAL

• PRT_SKELETON

• PRT_PIPE

• PRT_HARNESS

• ASM_DESIGN

• ASM_INTERCHANGE

• ASM_MOLD_LAYOUT

Note: If you have more than one condition for part types, the first condition that is
satisfied is applied. Models can satisfy more than one condition (for example, a pipe
is also a solid), which makes the order of conditions in the condition.mcc file very
important.

About Groups
Users can be assigned to groups, and specific configuration files can be loaded for
users depending on the group they belong to. In the condition.mcc file, groups are
specified using the syntax:
IF (GROUPNAME EQ name_of_group) config=

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Groups are listed in text files having the .mcg extension.

To Set Up the Group Files Using the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool

1. Click adjacent to Group Files in the left pane of the PTC ModelCHECK
Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Select the required group file. A table listing the contents of the file appears in
the right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new group file.

3. Edit the contents using the boxes. You can add and delete rows as required.

4. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the Group Files

1. Open the file using a text editor. By default, group files are located in
<proe>/modchk/text/<language>/config/groups.

2. To create a group called checkers, create a file named checkers.mcg in the

groups directory. List each member in this file by the login name, a single name
in a row.

Configuring for Pro/ENGINEER Releases

The condition.mcc file can be configured to use different configuration files based
on the version of Pro/ENGINEER in which the model was last saved. In the
condition.mcc file, versions of Pro/ENGINEER are specified using the syntax:
IF (PRO_VERSION LTE 1999120) config=…
Datecodes are specified using the current Pro/ENGINEER build string as in the
notation YYYYWW0 where YYYY denotes the year, WW the week, and 0 the first build of
the week.
Note: The date must be an actual Pro/ENGINEER datecode. For example, click Help
> About Pro/ENGINEER to see the datecode (manufacturing code) for your
current session.

Configuring for Model Creation Dates

The condition.mcc file can be configured to use different configuration files based
on the date when the model was created. In the condition.mcc file, the creation
date is specified using the syntax:
IF (DATE_CREATED GTE 19991231) config=…
Date codes are specified using the notation YYYYMMDD where YYYY denotes the year,
MM the month, and DD the date.

Combining Several Start Files

34
ModelCHECK

You can combine several start files into a single configuration. This allows you to
have a standard list of start part items that are in all models while giving
departments the opportunity to have a set of their own start part items in addition to
the company standard ones.
If there is duplicate information in the start files, the configuration file listed last is
used. Consider the sample condition.mcc file where the start_standard.mcs and
start_gavin.mcs files are listed on the same line. If the start_standard file
contains the line:
PRT_PARAMETER WIDGET STR EQ GREEN
and if the start_gavin file contains the following line:
PRT_PARAMETER WIDGET STR EQ BLUE
then the line from the start_standard file is ignored. That line conflicts with the line
from the start_gavin file and the line from the start_standard file comes before
the line from the start_gavin file.

Example: SET CONFIG FILE Sample Lines Explained

The lines in the SET CONFIG FILE section of the sample condition.mcc file are
explained as follows:
• IF (USERNAME EQ finn) config=(check_default.mch) (start_finn.mcs)
(constant_def.mcn) (status_1.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the user’s login name is finn.

• IF (USERNAME EQ gavin) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH)

config=(check_default.mch) (start_standard.mcs) (start_gavin.mcs)
(constant_inch.mcn) (status_2.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the user’s login name is gavin and the model
units are set to inches.

• IF (USERNAME EQ gavin) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM)

config=(check_default.mch) (start_gavin.mcs) (constant_mm.mcn)
(status_generic.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the user’s login name is gavin and the model
units are set to metric.

• IF (GROUPNAME EQ CHECKER) config=(checks_checker.mch)

(start_checker.mcs) (constant_def.mcn) (status_default.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the user belongs to the CHECKER group.

• IF (MODELNAME EQ ec*) config=(check_ec.mcs) (start_ec.mcs)

(constant_def.mcn) (status_generic.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the name of the model starts with ec.

• IF (MODEL_TYPE EQ PRT_SHEETMETAL) config=(check_shtmel.mch)

(start_shtmtl.mch) (constant_inch.mcn) (status_2.mcq)

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Runs the listed configuration files if the model is a sheet metal part.

• IF (FT_GENERIC_PRT) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM) config=(check_generic.mch)

(start_default.mch) (constant_mm.mcn) (status_1.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the model is a generic part and its units are
mm.

• IF (FT_INSTANCE_PRT) AND (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH)

config=(check_instance.mch) (start_default.mch) (constant_inch.mcn)
(status_2.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the model is an instance of a family table and
the model units are metric.

• IF (MODEL_TYPE EQ PRT_PIPE) config=(check_pipe.mch) (start_pipe.mcs)

(constant_def.mcn) (status_generic.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the model is a pipe.

• IF (DATE_CREATED GTE 19970418) config=(check_default.mch)

(sample_start.mcs) (constant_mm.mcn) (status_default.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the model has been created after the
specified date.

• IF (PRO_VERSION GTE 199842) config=(check_default.mch)

(sample_start.mcs) (constant_mm.mcn) (status_generic.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the model has been last saved in a
Pro/ENGINEER version, later than the specified version.

• IF (NOSTART) config=(simple_checks.mch) (nostart.mcs)

(constant_inch.mcn) (status_2.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if a parameter called NOSTART is found in the
model.

• IF (MODEL_UNIT EQ INCH) config=(check_default.mch)

(default_start.mcs) (constant_inch.mcn) (status_1.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the units of the model are inches.

• IF (MODEL_UNIT EQ MM) config=(check_default.mch) (default_start.mcs)

(constant_mm.mcn) (status_2.mcq)

Runs the listed configuration files if the units of the model are inches.

• ELSE config=(check_default.mch) (start_default.mcs)

(constant_def.mcn) (status_default.mcq)

Runs the default configuration files if none of the above conditions are true.

About the OVERRIDE CHECKS Section of the condition.mcc File

36
ModelCHECK

In the OVERRIDE CHECKS section of the condition.mcc file, specific checks can be
overridden under certain conditions. This section contains a series of IF statements.
When ModelCHECK runs, it reads this list from the file and applies all the statements
that are correct.

Example: OVERRIDE CHECKS Sample Lines Explained

Lines in the OVERRIDE CHECKS section of the sample condition.mcc are explained
as follows:
• IF (NOCHECK) NOCHECK

Instructs ModelCHECK to look for the existence of a parameter called NOCHECK. If

it is found in the model, ModelCHECK skips checking the model. Some more
examples to configure ModelCHECK for not checking the model are:

o IF (SPECIFIC) NOCHECK

If the model contains a parameter named SPECIFIC, skip checking the

model.

o IF (SPECIFIC EQ PTC) NOCHECK

If the model contains a parameter named SPECIFIC with a value of PTC,

skip checking the model.

o IF (MODELNAME EQ 123*) NOCHECK

If the model name begins with 123, skip checking the model.

o IF (MODEL_UNIT NEQ MM) AND (MODEL_UNIT NEQ INCH) NOCHECK

If the model units are neither millimeters nor inches, skip checking the
model.

• IF (MODEL_SIZE EQ LARGE) SHARP_EDGES = No

Instructs ModelCHECK to look for a parameter called MODEL_SIZE and determine

if it has a value of LARGE or not. If it does, ModelCHECK does not run the sharp-
edge check on this model.

• IF (DRAWN_BY EQ John Wallace) MODEL_NAME = Error

Instructs ModelCHECK to look for a parameter called DRAWN_BY and determine

whether it has a value of John Wallace or not. If it does, ModelCHECK sets the
MODEL_NAME check to report an error if it fails (overriding whatever is in the
check configuration file).

Note: Parameter names and values are case sensitive. If you want ModelCHECK to
accept both uppercase and lowercase versions of a parameter, specify them on two
separate lines.

Setting Up the Check Configuration File

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

About the Check Configuration File

The check configuration file, or check file, has the .mch extension. ModelCHECK uses
this file to determine when to run checks and how to report any problems. The
condition file determines which check file to use each time you run ModelCHECK.

To Set Up the Check Configuration File Using the PTC ModelCHECK

Configuration Tool
1. Click adjacent to Configuration settings in the left pane of the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click adjacent to Check files.

3. Select the required check file. A table listing the checks and their values appears
in the right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new check configuration file.
ModelCHECK dynamically updates all boxes listing check configuration files in the
PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box with the name of the new file.

4. Click Delete if you want to delete the file.

5. In the Check type to view box, select the type of check. All checks of the
selected type are listed in the table. ModelCHECK dynamically updates the boxes
in the table to only list checks of the selected type.

6. Edit the checks and their values using the boxes.

You can add and delete rows to add and delete checks, respectively.

7. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the Check Configuration File

1. Open the <filename>.mch file using a text editor. By default, this file is located in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config/check.

2. Set a value for the Interactive (I), Batch (B), Regenerate (R), and Save (S)
modes for each check. The values for each check are:

o N—Does not perform the check.

o Y—Performs the check and lists the results but does not report any
problems in the ModelCHECK report. Use Y for minor problems or for
information-only checks.

o E—Performs the check and reports an error if it fails. Errors are reported in
the ModelCHECK report. When errors are found, a model parameter is
created that has a value of the number of errors found in the model. A PDM
system can be set to track models with errors or to even reject their
submission. Use E for the most serious problems.

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ModelCHECK

o W—Does the same as E, except no model parameter is created. Use W for

less serious problems.

Note: If you see a check that does not apply to your site, turn the check off by
setting it to N in all modes.

3. Save the edited file with the .mch extension.

Part Mode Checks

Applicable checks in Part mode follow. The check name, values to which it can be
set, definition, and suggested settings are explained for each part check in the check
configuration file.
• ACCURACY_INFO (Accuracy Information)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the type of accuracy (relative or absolute) and its value. It also reports
whether the value set is within an acceptable range. The acceptable limits are set
using the following constant configuration options:

o ACCURACY_LOW and ACCURACY_UPP for relative accuracy

o MIN_ABS_ACCURACY and MAX_ABS_ACCURACY for absolute accuracy

ModelCHECK automatically determines the type of accuracy and uses the

appropriate values. If the accuracy is not properly set, it can be changed from
ModelCHECK.

Note: Pro/ENGINEER fully regenerates the model if you change the type or value
of the accuracy.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• ADD_CHK_PARAM (Add a Parameter)

Y/N

Adds or updates a parameter in the model that stores the outcome of another
check. The PRT_ADD_CHK_PARAM, ASM_ADD_CHK_PARAM, and DRW_ADD_CHK_PARAM
configuration options in the start configuration file are used to specify the
parameters to create.

Y/N/E/W

Checks for the existence of a set of standard named features. If they are found,
ModelCHECK checks for the existence of standard named children.

If the parent features do not exist in the model, ModelCHECK does not check for
the children.

Parent features and their children are listed using the PRT_CHILD_EXIST and
ASM_CHILD_EXIST configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

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ModelCHECK

• COSMETIC_FEAT (Cosmetic Features)

Y/N

Lists the cosmetic features in the model.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• CYL_CUT_SLOTS (Cuts and Slots That Should Be Holes)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any circular cuts or slots in the model that could have been modeled
using holes instead. If any are found, you can highlight the features in question
in the Pro/ENGINEER window. This check ignores cylindrical features that have
been created using the Revolve command.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• CYL_DIAMS (Circular Cut Diameters)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any circular cuts in the model without standard diameters. If any are
found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Standard cut diameters are listed in a text file specified by the

STD_HOLE_DIAM_FILE start configuration option (The same file is used for hole
diameters.)

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• DATUM_RENAME (Renaming Datums)

Y/N/E/W

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

If this check is enabled and a specified datum is found in the model, ModelCHECK
renames it as specified. Datum names to be renamed are specified using the
PRT_DATUM_RENAME and ASM_DATUM_RENAME start configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N W

• DEF_DENSITY (Model Density)

Y/N/E/W

Checks that the model’s density is not the default (1.00). If it is the default,
update the density from the ModelCHECK report.

Suggested Settings:
Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N E

• DEFAULT_CHILD (Children of the Default Datum Planes)

Y/N

Reports the number of features that are direct children of the default datum
planes.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• DEPENDENT_FEATURE (Dependent Features)

Y/N/E/W

Checks for the existence of dependent features. A dependent feature is created

when you copy a feature by translating, rotating, or mirroring it. The copied as
well as the original features are reported and can be highlighted.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

N N N N

• DESIGNATED_ATTR (Designated Attributes)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the designated parameters in a model. Designated parameters are

identified for use as attributes in a PDM system.

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ModelCHECK

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

N N N N

• DRAFT_ANGLES (Standard Draft Angles)

Y/N/E/W

Reports whether any draft features in the model do not have standard draft
angles. If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the
Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Standard draft angles are listed in a text file specified by the

STD_DRAFT_ANGLES_FILE start configuration option.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• DRAFT_CHILD (Children of Draft)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the features that are children of draft features. If any are found, you can
highlight them in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• DTM_AXES_INFO (Datum Axis Information)

Y/N

Lists all datum axes found in the model.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• DTM_CSYS_INFO (Coordinate System Information)

• DUPLICATE_MODELS (Duplicate Models)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the models in your shape indexing database that are similar in shape to the
model being checked.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

44
ModelCHECK

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• EARLY_ROUND (Early Rounds)

Y/N/E/W

Lists rounds in the early features of the model. Early features appear within a
specified percentage of all the features in the model starting from the top of the
Model Tree. The percentage is defined by the PERC_EARLY_ROUND start
configuration option.

If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER
window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• EDGE_REFERENCES (Features That Reference Edges)

Y/N/E/W

Lists features that have been created using edges as dimension reference points.
If any are found, you can highlight them in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• EXTERNAL_DEPS (External Dependencies)

Y/N/E/W

Lists all the external dependencies of a model. The names of the assemblies in
which the external dependencies exist are also listed. You can highlight the
external dependencies.

Note: If the referenced models are not in the current session, a corresponding
message appears.

46
ModelCHECK

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y N Y N

• EXTRA_LAYERS (Layer Status)

Y/N/E/W

Lists any extra layers in the model. Extra layers are not listed in the start part.

If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER
window.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• EXTRA_PARAMS (Parameter Format Errors)

Y/N/E/W

Reports extra parameters in the model. Extra parameters are not listed in the
start part. If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the
Pro/ENGINEER window.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• FAMILY_INFO (Family Table Information)

Y/N/E/W

Identifies a model as either generic or not. If the model is generic, this check
reports the instances with their names, and whether the instances have been
successfully verified.

An instance is marked with one of the following verification states:

Successfully verified—Verified and regenerates successfully.

Unsuccessfully verified—Verified but does not regenerate successfully.

Not verified—Not verified because one or more of the following cases is true.

o The geometry of the generic model has changed after the family table was
last verified.

o The instance has been modified after it was last verified.

• FREEFORM (Freeform Surfaces)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the number of freeform features in the model.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• FT_DEF_VALS (Family Table Default Values)

Y/N/E/W

If the model has a family table, this check makes sure that no instances have
default values (there are no asterisks (*) in the table).

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ModelCHECK

If this is the case, the ModelCHECK report allows you to convert all asterisks to
their corresponding values as specified in the generic.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N N

• FT_STD_PARMS (Family Table Standard Parameters)

Y/N/E/W

Ensures that the standard parameters have been added to models with family
tables. Standard parameters are set in the start configuration file using the
PRT_FT_PARAMETER and ASM_FT_PARAMETER configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• GEOM_CHECKS (Geometry Checks)

Y/N/E/W

Reports if there are any geometry checks in the model. If any are found, the
features in question can be highlighted in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

N E N E

• GEOMETRIC_TOL (Geometric Tolerances)

Y/N

Reports all geometric tolerances associated with parts, assemblies, and drawings.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• HOLE_DIAMS (Standard Hole Diameters)

Y/N/E/W

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Reports any holes in the model that do not have standard diameters. If any are
found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Standard hole diameters are listed in a text file specified by the

STD_HOLE_DIAM_FILE start configuration option.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• IGNORE_FEAT (Problem Features That Should Be Ignored)

Y/N/E/W

Sometimes it is necessary to create a feature that ModelCHECK will view as an

error. ModelCHECK can be configured to ignore the problems. Problems can be
set to the ignore state from any place that allows highlighting of problems.

When ModelCHECK runs on a model that contains ignored features, the ignored
features are listed in the ModelCHECK report and can be highlighted. From the
report, the status of the ignored features can be reset so that ModelCHECK
resumes warnings about the problem.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

If you set a problem to ignore, a window appears in which you must explain the
reason for ignoring the problem. This information is stored in the model as a
feature parameter with the name MC_<CONFIG_TAG>, where CONFIG_TAG is the
name of the check. After this, when ModelCHECK is run, you can browse the
ModelCHECK report to see the ignored problems, along with the names of the
users who ignored them and their comments.

When ModelCHECK uses a configuration file with the IGNORE_FEAT check set to
N, any ignored problems are reported as regular problems.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y Y Y

• IMPORT_FEAT (Imported Features)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the number of imported features in the model. If any are found, you can
highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

50
ModelCHECK

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• INCOMPLETE_FEAT (Incomplete Features)

Standard features include:

o axes

o chamfers

o components

o cosmetic grooves

o cosmetic sketches

o cosmetic threads

o coordinate systems

o curves

o cuts

o datums

53
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

o datum axes

o datum coordinate systems

o datum planes

o datum points

o datum quilts

o datum surfaces

o drafts

o draft lines

o groups

o geometric tolerances

o holes

o notes

o protrusions

o rounds

o shells

o slots

o symbols

o threads

The PRT_LAYER and ASM_LAYER start configuration options define standard layers.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W E N E

• LAYER_STATUS (Layer Status)

Y/N/E/W

Checks the display status of the standard named layers. If any layers are not
saved in the right display status, you can have ModelCHECK automatically correct
them. The PRT_LAYER and ASM_LAYER start configuration options define standard
layers.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W E N E

54
ModelCHECK

• LAYOUT_INFO (Layout Information)

Y/N/E/W

Lists layouts associated with the model.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• LOW_TOLERANCE (Lowest Allowable Tolerance)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the dimensions in the model in which the tolerance is lower than the
standard minimum value. If any are found, you can highlight the features in
question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

The minimum allowable tolerance is set using the MIN_TOLERANCE constant

configuration option.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• MATERIAL_INFO (Material Type)

Y/N/E/W

Reports whether the model’s material has been defined or not. If it has, its name
and properties are reported. This check also verifies that the defined material
comes from an acceptable list. Standard material names are listed in the start
configuration file using the MATERIAL_NAME configuration option.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N W

• MEMORY_SPACE (Memory Space Used)

Y/N

Displays the memory space used while the model is in session. This check is
available only in Batch mode.

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y Y Y

• MODEL_NAME (Model Name Specification Errors)

Y/N/E/W

Verifies that the names of parts and assemblies conform to the standard naming
conventions defined by the PRT_MODEL_NAME and ASM_MODEL_NAME start
configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• MODEL_NAME_STR (Model Name)

Y/N

Y/N/E/W

Checks that all standard parameters are present in the model and that they are
of an acceptable type and format.

Standard parameters are defined by the PRT_PARAMETER and ASM_PARAMETER

start configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• PARAM_INFO (Model Parameters)

Y/N

Lists all parameters in the model and their values.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

57
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Y Y N N

• PARAM_NOTE_REQ (Required Parameter Notes)

PARAM_NOTE_UNACC (Unacceptable Parameter Notes)
Y/N/E/W

Checks that required parameter notes are present and marks the unacceptable
parameter notes. Notes can be checked in the following two ways:

o Does a specific parameter exist and does it contain the required text?

o Does a specific parameter exist and does it contain any unacceptable text?

Required parameter notes are designated in the configuration files using the
PRT_PARAM_NOTE_REQ and ASM_PARAM_NOTE_REQ start configuration options.

Unacceptable parameter notes are designated in the configuration files using the
PRT_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC and ASM_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC configuration options.

All note text is stored in external text files.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N N

• PARAM_RENAME (Parameter Rename)

Y/N/E/W

If this check is enabled, ModelCHECK can rename a specified parameter.

Parameters to be renamed are specified using the PRT_PARAM_RENAME and
ASM_PARAM_RENAME start configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• PARAM_SPELL (Parameter Spelling)

Y/N/E/W

Checks that parameter values have been spelled correctly. If any are spelled
incorrectly, you can correct the spelling or add the value to the dictionary.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N N

• PARAM_UNUSED (Unused Parameters)

58
ModelCHECK

Y/N/E/W

Reports part parameters that are unused in relations and in family tables. It also
allows deletion of these unused parameters.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W N W N

• PLANE_CHILD (Datum Planes without Children)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any datum planes in the model, other than default planes, with no
children. In the start part list in the start configuration file, you can specify a list
of required standard datum planes for a model. The PLANE_CHILD check does
not check these standard datum planes.

If any childless datum planes are found, you can highlight the features in
question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

ModelCHECK cannot highlight items on blanked layers.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W E

• PLANE_PARENT (Datum Planes That Only Have One Parent)

Y/N/E/W

Reports the datum planes in the model that were created through other datum
planes. If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the
Pro/ENGINEER window. ModelCHECK cannot highlight features on blanked layers.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

This check also reports datum planes with only one parent, where the datum is
built through the parent. The PLANE_PARENT check does not check any standard
datum planes in the start configuration file.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W E

• PRO_VERSION (Version of Pro/ENGINEER)

59
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Y/N/E/W

Reports the version of Pro/ENGINEER that the model was last saved in. The
following start configuration options are available:

o PRT_PRO_VERSION

REGEN_WRNS (Regeneration Warnings)
Y/N/E/W

Reports any regeneration problems when a model is fully regenerated. These are
typically problems that are reported in the Pro/ENGINEER message window when
a model is regenerated.

The mc_regen.mcr configuration file is used to specify the messages to search for
and to determine whether a message is an error or a warning message.

Because this check can take considerable time, you run it with the MC Regen
command or in Batch mode.

60
ModelCHECK

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E N N

• RELATION_COMM (Comments in Relations)

Y/N/E/W

W W N N

• RELATION_MULT (Relations That Have Multiple Assignments)

Y/N/E/W

Checks that no dimensions and parameters have been assigned multiple times in
the relations file.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E N N

• RENAMED_SYMBOLS (Renamed Dimension Symbols)

Y/N

Lists the names of the part dimension symbols that have been renamed.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y N Y N

• REPT_LAYR_ALWAYS (Report Missing Layers)

Y/N

Always reports missing layers if set to Y. If set to N, missing layers will only be
reported if a standard feature type for that layer exists in the model.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y Y Y

• ROUND_CHILD (Children of Rounds)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the features that are children of rounds. If any are found, they can be
highlighted in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

62
ModelCHECK

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

• SHORT_EDGES (Short Edges)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the edges in the model with a length smaller than a specified limit. You can
define the limit for the length using the SHORT_EDGE constant configuration
option. If any short edges are found, the features in question can be highlighted
in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

63
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

W W Y W

• SHTMTL_THICK (Standard Sheet Metal Wall Thicknesses)

Y/N/E/W

Reports whether sheet metal parts have been modeled using standard wall
thickness. If any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the
Pro/ENGINEER window.

64
ModelCHECK

Y/N/E/W

Checks that the name of simplified representations follows the standard naming
convention defined by the PRT_SIMPREP_NAME and ASM_SIMPREP_NAME start
configuration options.

Suggested Settings:

65
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• SKETCH_ITEMS (Number of Entities in a Sketched Feature)

Y/N/E/W

Counts the number of geometric entities (lines, arcs, points) in a sketched

feature and verifies that the number is less than a maximum value. Dimensions
are not counted as entities. The maximum value can be defined with the
MAX_SKETCH_ITEMS constant configuration option.

If the number of entities in a feature exceeds the maximum value, the feature is
reported and you can highlight it in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

N N N N

• SLA_INFO (SLA Information)

Y/N/E/W

Reports whether it is possible to generate an SLA output file of the model. This
check takes a relatively long time. If you are concerned about speed, turn it off.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N W

• SMALL_CYLSRF (Small Cylindrical Surfaces)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the features that have cylindrical surfaces (such as rounds and holes) and
small radii. You can define the minimum radius with the SMALL_RADIUS constant
configuration option. If any are found, the features in question can be highlighted
in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

66
ModelCHECK

E E E E

• SRF_EDGES (Surface Gaps and Overlaps)

Y/N/E/W

Lists the edges with either gaps or overlaps between the surfaces that meet. If
any are found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER
window.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported features.

This check takes a relatively long time. If you are concerned about speed, turn it
off.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E N N

• STARTCHECK (Start Part and Start Assembly Check)

Y/N/E/W

Verifies that the items in the start part and start assembly lists are in the model
and have been created in the standard order (That is, default datum planes
should be features 1, 2, and 3.) Start-part features can be datum planes,
coordinate systems, curves, points, views, parameters, or layers.

If any parameters or layers are missing, ModelCHECK can automatically add

them to the model.

Start-part items are defined in the start configuration file with the following
configuration options: PRT_DATUM_PLANE, PRT_DATUM_CSYS, PRT_DATUM_POINT,
PRT_DATUM_CURVE, PRT_DATUM_POINT, PRT_VIEW, PRT_PARAMETER and PRT_LAYER.

Tolerance types are checked as part of the start part. These are specified using
the PRT_TOL_TYPE and ASM_TOL_TYPE start configuration options. The allowable
types of tolerances are DIN/ISO or ANSI.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• STD_NOTES_MISSING

Y/N/E/W

Y/N/E/W

Checks that the mass units are from a standard list of acceptable units. Standard
mass unit types are designated in the start configuration file using the
PRT_UNITS_MASS and ASM_UNITS_MASS configuration options.

Mass types are case sensitive. Units must be properly defined using the following
key words:

68
ModelCHECK

Applicable checks in Assembly mode follow. The check name, values to which it can
be set, definition, and suggested settings are explained for each assembly check in
the check configuration file.
• ASM_BOM (Assembly Bill of Materials)

Y/N

Displays the bill of materials of the assembly. You must set this check to Y for an
all-level check on an assembly.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• ASM_FEATURES (Assembly Features)

69
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Y/N

Reports any assembly features, other than datums, in the model. If any are
found, you can highlight the features in question in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y Y Y

• BULK_ITEMS (Bulk Items)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any bulk items found in the assembly.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N Y

• CIRCULAR_REFS (Circular References)

Y/N/E/W

Checks for any circular references in the assembly. Circular references occur
when an assembly contains a number of cross references that form a loop.

ModelCHECK reports all the circular references. You can highlight the features or
components involved.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y Y N

• EXTERNAL_DEPS (External Dependencies)

Y/N/E/W

Lists all the external dependencies of a model. The names of the assemblies in
which the external dependencies exist are also listed. You can highlight the
external dependencies.

Note: If the referenced models are not in the current session, a corresponding
message appears.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Checks the number of days since the last global interference check was run and
whether it was within the acceptable period or not.

When you run a global interference check on an assembly, ModelCHECK creates a

parameter in the assembly. ModelCHECK uses the parameter the next time a
report is generated to determine when the last interference check was run.

The GLOBAL_INTF_DAYS configuration option in the start configuration file sets the
maximum number of days between interference checks. ModelCHECK reports
whether an interference check was done recently or not.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E E E

• MIS_COMPONENTS (Missing Components)

Y/N/E/W

Y/N/E/W

Checks for any suppressed components in the assembly.

You can also access the Global Reference Viewer from the ModelCHECK report to
view all references to and from the reported components.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N W

• UNQ_COMPONENTS (Unique Components)

Y/N

Reports the number of unique components in an assembly.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

72
ModelCHECK

Y Y N N

Drawing Mode Checks

Applicable checks in Drawing mode follow. The check name, values to which it can be
set, definition, and suggested settings are explained for each drawing check in the
check configuration file.
• BOUND_INFO (Boundary Information)

Y/N/E/W

Checks that no views, entities, dimensions, symbols, notes, and tables lie outside
the boundary of a drawing. If any are found, you can highlight the reported views
or details in the Pro/ENGINEER window.

Note: This check considers the boundary of the drawing and not the boundary of
the format. If an item lies outside the boundary of the format but within the
boundary of the drawing, ModelCHECK does not report it as a problem. If a
drawing has no valid views, ModelCHECK does not check for views, entities,
dimensions, symbols, notes, and tables lying outside the boundary of the
drawing.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W W W

• DEFAULT_VIEWS (Views with the Default Hidden Line Display Mode)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any views with the hidden line display mode set to the default (and not
the other options, namely, Wireframe, Hidden Line, and No Hidden) in a
drawing.

If any views are found, you can be highlight them from the report.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

W W N W

• DIM_OVERWRITE (Overwritten Dimensions)

Y/N/E/W

Reports any dimensions modified using @O, which breaks their associations with
the model, allowing you to enter whatever value you choose.

Y/N/E/W

Enables the following parameter checks in Drawing mode:

Missing parameters STARTCHECK

Parameter errors PARAMCHECK

74
ModelCHECK

Spelling errors PARAM_SPELL

Rename specifications PARAM_RENAME

Parameters not included in start list EXTRA_PARAMS

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• ERASED_VIEWS (Erased Views)

E E W W

• NOTE_INFO (Drawing Note Information)

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ModelCHECK

Y/N

Lists notes in the drawing with the sheets they are on.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• NOTE_SPELL (Note Spelling Errors)

Y/N/E/W

Checks the drawing for spelling mistakes. If any mistakes are found you can
highlight them or highlight and correct them. Also, you can add the word to the
dictionary so that ModelCHECK accepts it as correct.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W E

• NOTE_UNACCEPT (Unacceptable Notes)

Y/N/E/W

Verifies that no unacceptable text exists in any drawing notes or tables.

Unacceptable text is defined in the start configuration file with the
DRW_NOTE_UNACC configuration option.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E W W

• NUM_DRAW_SHEETS (Maximum Number of Drawing Sheets)

Y/N/E/W

Y/N/E/W

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ModelCHECK

Lists the number of sheets in the drawing and their respective sizes.

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

Y Y N N

• STD_DTL_SETUP (Drawing Detail File)

Y/N/E/W

Y/N/E/W

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E N N

• M2_IDENTICAL_ELMNT (Identical Elements)

Y/N/E/W

Suggested Settings:

Inter Batch Regen Save

E E N N

• M3A_POSITION_CONT (Position Continuity)

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

• SU11_NORM_REVERSAL (Reversal of Normals)

Y/N/E/W

• SO22_DIST_VERT_FACE (Distance to Vertex Face)

Y/N/E/W

Setting Up the Start Configuration File

About the Start Configuration File

The start configuration file, or start file, stores the initialization information for parts.
ModelCHECK uses the information while checking models. The start configuration file
has the .mcs extension. In the start configuration file, you can initialize Part mode
options, Assembly mode options, Drawing mode options, and external files.
You can have several start configuration files and use more than one at a time. The
condition file determines which start file to use each time you run ModelCHECK.

To Set Up the Start Configuration File Using the PTC ModelCHECK

Configuration Tool
1. Click adjacent to Configuration settings in the left pane of the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click adjacent to Start files.

3. Select the required start file. A table listing the start file configuration options and
their values appears in the right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration
Tool dialog box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new start configuration file. ModelCHECK
dynamically updates all boxes listing start configuration files in the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box with the name of the new file.

4. In the Choose items to view box, select the category. All configuration options
of the selected category are listed in the table. The list of categories also includes
the external files used.

5. Select an option to see and edit its definition in the lower table.

6. Edit the configuration options and their definitions using the boxes. Succeeding
items in the definition automatically change according to the current setting.

o To change a configuration option, change the definition, and click Add

Item.

o To add a configuration option, click Add row, add the definition, and click
Add item.

o Remove items to delete configuration options.

o Move items up or down as required.

7. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the Start Configuration File

1. Open the <filename>.mcs file using a text editor. By default, this file is located in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config/start.

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2. List parameters to add to the model.

3. Save the file with the .mcs extension.

You can have several start configuration files and use more than one at a time.

Start File Configuration Options Summary

Part and Assembly Mode

Feature Part Mode Assembly Mode

Check PRT_ADD_CHK_PARAM ASM_ADD_CHK_PARAM

Parameter

Datum Axes PRT_DATUM_AXIS ASM_DATUM_AXIS

Datum Csys PRT_DATUM_CSYS ASM_DATUM_CSYS

Datum Curves PRT_DATUM_CURVE ASM_DATUM_CURVE

Datum Planes PRT_DATUM_PLANE ASM_DATUM_PLANE

Datum Points PRT_DATUM_POINT ASM_DATUM_POINT

Family Table PRT_FT_PARAMETER ASM_PT_PARAMETER

Parameter

Layer Move PRT_LAYER_MOVE ASM_LAYER_MOVE

Layers PRT_LAYER ASM_LAYER

Length Units PRT_UNITS_LENGTH ASM_UNITS_LENGTH

Mass Units PRT_UNITS_MASS ASM_UNITS_MASS

Material Name MATERIAL_NAME

Model Name PRT_MODEL_NAME ASM_MODEL_NAME

PRT_INSTANCE_NAME ASM_INSTANCE_NAME

Parameter PRT_PARAM_RENAME ASM_PARAM_RENAME

Rename

Parameters PRT_PARAMETER ASM_PARAMETER

Pro/ENGINEER PRT_PRO_VERSION ASM_PRO_VERSION

Version

Relation PRT_RELATION ASM_RELATION

Relation PRT_COMMENT ASM_COMMENT

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Comment

Standard PRT_STD_NOTE ASM_STD_NOTE

Model Notes

Required and PRT_PARAM_NOTE_REQ ASM_PARAM_NOTE_REQ

Unacceptable PRT_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC ASM_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC
Note
Parameter

Sheet Metal SHTML_BTNAME

Bend Table

Tolerance PRT_TOL_TYPE ASM_TOL_TYPE

Type

Views PRT_VIEW ASM_VIEW

Name of PRT_SIMPREP_NAME ASM_SIMPREP_NAME

Simplified
Representatio
n

Drawing Mode

Format DRW_FORMAT

Layer DRW_LAYER

Layer Move DRW_LAYER_MOVE

Model Name DRW_MODEL_NAME

Note Font DRW_NOTE_FONT

Note Height DRW_NOTE_HEIGHT

Pro/ENGINEER Version DRW_PRO_VERSION

Sheets to be Ignored DRW_IGNORE_SHEETS

Symbol DRW_SYMBOL

Table Cells DRW_TABLE_CELLS

Unacceptable Note DRW_NOTE_UNACC

External Files

Custom Checks CUSTOM_CHECKS_FILE

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Draft Angle STD_DRAFT_ANGLE_FILE

Drawing Detail STD_DRW_DTL_FILE

Drawing Information STD_DRW_INFO_FILE

External Lists STD_USER_LIST_FILE

Hole and Cut Diameters STD_HOLE_DIAM_FILE

Regeneration Messages MC_REGEN_CONFIG_FILE

Sheet Metal Thickness STD_SHTMTL_THICK_FILE

Part and Assembly Mode Configuration Options for the Start File
Configuration options available in the start configuration file for Part and Assembly
mode follow.

Model Parameters
Parameters to be added to a model can be specified. Use the following format in the
start configuration file to list the parameters to add to the model:
[MODE]_ADD_CHK_PARAM [parameter] [check_output]
where
• [MODE] is PRT, ASM, or DRW.

• [parameter] is the name of the parameter to be created.

• [check_output] is the name of the check whose output is to be used.

For example,
PRT_ADD_CHK_PARAM MATERIAL MATERIAL_INFO
PRT_ADD_CHK_PARAM UNITS_LENGTH UNITS_LENGTH
PRT_ADD_CHK_PARAM MODEL_NAME MODEL_NAME_STR

Datum Axes, Csys, Curves, Planes, and Points

Standard datums and their placement in the feature list can be verified. Use the
following format in the start configuration file to set the standard datums:
[MODE]_DATUM_[ITEM] [item_name] [#]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [ITEM] is AXIS, PLANE, CSYS, POINT, or CURVE.

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• [item_name] is the name of the item. If the name of the item is not important,
use the word NONE.

• [#] is the feature number. If only the feature name is important, you can omit
the feature number.

For example,
PRT_DATUM_AXIS A_1
PRT_DATUM_PLANE DTM1 1
PRT_DATUM_PLANE DTM2 2
PRT_DATUM_PLANE DTM3 3
PRT_DATUM_CSYS NONE 4
ASM_DATUM_POINT PNT_1
ASM_DATUM_CURVE CURVE_1
ASM_DATUM_PLANE ADTM1 1

Required and Unacceptable Parameter Notes

Required parameter notes are defined in the start configuration file or in separate
text files using the following format:
[MODE]_PARAM_NOTE_REQ [parameter] [file_name].txt

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [parameter] is the name of the parameter.

• [file_name] is the name of the text file for the required notes.

You can define a single note in the start configuration file as follows:
[MODE]_PARAM_NOTE_REQ [parameter] "[NOTE_TEXT]"
Unacceptable parameter notes are defined in the start configuration file or in
separate text files using the following format:
[MODE]_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC [parameter] [file_name].txt

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [parameter] is the name of the parameter.

• [file_name] is the name of the text file for the unacceptable notes.

You can define a single note in the start configuration file as follows:
[MODE]_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC [parameter] "[NOTE_TEXT]"
For example:
PRT_PARAM_NOTE_REQ COMPANY notes.txt
ASM_PARAM_NOTE_UNACC DATE "Hello"

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Standard Model Notes

Models can be checked to verify the presence of standard notes. Use the following
format in the start configuration file to define the standard model notes:

[MODE]_STD_NOTE [NOTE_TEXT]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [NOTE_TEXT] is the text for the note.

You can define any number of single-line standard notes using separate lines for
each note. To define notes with multiple lines, use a separate text file as follows:
[MODE]_STD_NOTE FILE:[file_name].txt

Family Table Parameter

Models with family tables can be checked to make sure that standard parameters
exist in the Family Table. Use the following format in the start configuration file to
designate standard family table parameters:
[MODE]_FT_PARAMETER [parameter]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [parameter] is the name of the parameter that should exist in all family tables.

For example:
PRT_FT_PARAMETER PN
ASM_FT_PARAMETER MODELNAME

Layer Move
For legacy parts, ModelCHECK can create new layers, move items from old layers to
the new ones, and delete the old layers. Use the following format in the start
configuration file to set up a change in layers:
[MODE]_LAYER_MOVE [old_layer] [new_layer]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [old_layer] is the name of the old layer.

• [new_layer] is the name of the new layer.

For example:
PRT_LAYER_MOVE DTMS DATUMS
PRT_LAYER_MOVE CSYS DATUMS

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A layer called DATUMS will be created in the model, all features from the DTMS and
CSYS layers will be moved to the DATUMS layer, and the DTMS and CSYS layers will be
deleted.

Layers
ModelCHECK can do the following:
• Check the display status of layers.

• Find standard layers and check their status settings. If the status of a layer is not
set correctly, ModelCHECK can change it at your request.

• Check the features on a layer.

• Find certain features on specific layers. If a standard layer does not have all
expected features, ModelCHECK can incorporate them as requested.

Use the following format in the start configuration file to configure layers:
[MODE]_LAYER [layer] [layer_status] [entity_type]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM or DRW.

• [layer] is the name of the layer.

• [layer_status] is the layer display status. Acceptable values are:

o BLANK—Layer is unavailable.

o DISPLAY—Layer is displayed.

o NORMAL—Layer has no standard status.

o NONE—Layer can be in any status.

• [entity_type] is the entity type. Leave blank if there are no standard items for
the layer in question. The acceptable values are listed in the next table.

AXIS CHAMFER COMPONENT COSMETIC

COSMETIC_ALL COSMETIC_GROOVE COSMETIC_SKETCH COSMETIC_THREAD

CSYS CURVE CUT DATUM

DATUM_AXIS DATUM_CSYS DATUM_PLANES DATUM_POINT

DATUM_QUILT DATUM_SURF DRAFT DRAFT_LINE

GROUPS GTOLS HOLE NOTES (DRW)

PROTRUSION ROUND SHELL SLOT

SYMBOLS THREAD

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(DRW)

For example:

PRT_LAYER DEFAULT_DATUMS NONE LIST_DEF

PRT_LAYER DATUM_PLANES BLANK DATUM_PLANES
PRT_LAYER AXES BLANK DATUM_AXIS
PRT_LAYER CSYS BLANK DATUM_CSYS
PRT_LAYER ROUNDS NONE ROUND
PRT_LAYER COSMETICS NORMAL COSMETIC_ALL

Feature names can be listed as entity types using a named list as LIST_XXX
where XXX is the name of the list used. For example, to specify that default
datums must go on a layer called DEFAULT_DATUMS, use the following syntax:

PRT_LAYER DEFAULT_DATUMS NONE LIST_DEF EXCLUSIVE

Then create a list of datum names to include on this layer (create this list either
in the start configuration file or in an external file referenced by the start
configuration file):

LIST_DEF DTM1
LIST_DEF DTM2
LIST_DEF DTM3
LIST_DEF CSYS_0

If EXCLUSIVE is added to the end of the line, ModelCHECK ignores the listed features
in the rules set for other layers.
Lines that use the EXCLUSIVE option should be placed before lines that are not
exclusive in the configuration files.

Extra Layers
Layers in the model that are not listed as start items can be reported as extra layers.
ModelCHECK lists extra layers that you can delete from the model. This check is
configured in the check configuration file as follows:
EXTRA_LAYERS YNEW W W N N Y

Sub-Layers
Layers can be specified to have a standard list of sub-layers (other layers) on them.
To set this up, use the following line:
PRT_LAYER LAYER_NAME BLANK LIST_LAYERS

where LIST_LAYERS is a list containing the names of the layers to be on LAYER_NAME.

The LIST_LAYERS list needs to have each layer name specified with the prefix of
LAYER_ as follows:
LIST_LAYERS LAYER_DATUM_PLANES
LIST_LAYERS LAYER_DATUM_CSYS

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Length Units
The length units of the model can be checked and verified as being from an
acceptable list. These units are configured in the start configuration file as shown in
the following example:
PRT_UNITS_LENGTH INCH
PRT_UNITS_LENGTH MM

Mass Units
The mass units of the model can be checked and verified as being from an
acceptable list. These are configured in the start configuration file as shown in the
following example:
PRT_UNITS_MASS KILOGRAM
ASM_UNITS_MASS POUND

Note: The units must be specified in uppercase and spelled as shown.

Material Name
The material name can be checked and verified as being from an acceptable list. This
option is configured in the start configuration file as shown in the following example:
MATERIAL_NAME STEEL
MATERIAL_NAME ALUMINUM

You can update the material from the ModelCHECK report. To do this, a valid
material file having the .mat extension must exist in either the working directory or
in the location specified by the pro_material_dir configuration option in the
config.pro file.

Model Name
ModelCHECK can verify that Pro/ENGINEER model names, instances, and simplified
representations conform to company-specific naming standards in the following
ways:
• Are file names less than, equal to, or greater than a specific number of
characters?

• Do file names consist of only characters or only numbers?

• Do file names contain specific strings?

Use the following format in the start configuration file to configure layers:
[MODE]_[MOD_INST]_NAME [equality] [value]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [MOD_INST] is MODEL, INSTANCE or SIMPREP.

• [equality] is the equality relationship. Acceptable values are:

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o EQ—Equal to

o NEQ—Not equal to

o LT—Less than (only for length)

o GT—Greater than (only for length)

o LTE—Less than or equal to (only for length)

o GTE—Greater than or equal to (only for length)

• [value] is the value of the model name. Rules for values are:

o Do not specify exact values, because each Pro/ENGINEER model has to

have a different name.

o Use ALL_CHARACTERS to verify that all models have names that consist only
of characters. This check ignores dashes (-) or underscores (_) found in
names.

o Use ALL_NUMBERS to verify that all models have names that consist of only
numbers. This check ignores dashes (-) or underscores (_) found in names.

o Use LENGTH_## where ## is a number. This check verifies that the number
of characters in model names is either less than, less than or equal to,
equal to, greater than, or greater than or equal to a specific number.

o *, ?, # and $ can be used as wildcards, where:

*—Any number of characters

?—One character (numerical, alphabetical, or symbol)

#—One numerical character

$—One string character

o For DRW_MODEL_NAME, a value of FIRST_MODEL can be specified if you want

to check that the name of the drawing is the same as the first model added
to the drawing.

o Specify LIST_XXX to refer to a list of acceptable values.

PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ LIST_NAMES

Specify each member of the LIST_NAMES list on a separate line in the

configuration file as follows:

LIST_NAMES CE_*
LIST_NAMES CD_*
LIST_NAMES EO_*

This check would verify that all model names begin with CE_, CD_ or EO_.
Alternatively, you can refer to a text file that contains the list, as follows:

LIST_NAMES text/list.txt

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For example:
PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ ALL_CHARACTERS
PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ ALL_NUMBERS
PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ LIST_NAMES
PRT_INSTANCE_NAME EQ XYZ_*
PRT_INSTANCE_NAME EQ GENERIC
ASM_MODEL_NAME LT LENGTH_12
ASM_INSTANCE_NAME EQ E_##_*
DRW_MODEL_NAME EQ CD_*
DRW_MODEL_NAME EQ ???_CD
DRW_MODEL_NAME EQ FIRST_MODEL

Examples of wildcards:
• *test—The value has to end in test, so model test would be an acceptable value.

• ??-??—The value has to be five characters long with a hyphen (–) as the third
character.

• ####-$000—The first four characters have to be numbers, the fifth character

has to be a dash (-), character number 6 has to be a letter, and the last 3
characters have to be zeros (0).

• ???_*—The first three characters can be any characters followed by an

underscore.

Parameter Rename
ModelCHECK can rename parameters from old names to new ones while preserving
their values. Use the following format in the start configuration file to rename
parameters:
[MODE]_PARAM_RENAME [old_name] [new_name]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [old_name] is the current name of the parameter.

• [new_name] is the new name of the parameter.

For example:
PRT_PARAM_RENAME GAVIN FINN
ASM_PARAM_RENAME WAYNE HOLDEN

Given the above configuration options, when you run ModelCHECK on a part or an
assembly, if it finds a parameter called GAVIN, it allows you to rename it to FINN.

Parameters
ModelCHECK includes a parameter check that verifies that the model parameters
conform to your company standards. The following information can be verified in
parameters:

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• Are they the right types (string, integer, real, Boolean)?

• Are they PDM designated?

• Do they have assigned values?

• Do specific parameters have values from a standard list of valid values?

• Are numerical parameters less than, greater than, or equal to a specific value?

• Are string or Boolean parameters equal to a specific value?

• Do string parameters contain specific letters, or are they a specific length?

Use the following format in the start configuration file to rename parameters:
[MODE]_PARAMETER [name] [type] [equality] [value]

where
• [MODE] is PRT or ASM.

• [name] is the name of the parameter. The name is not case-sensitive.

• [type] is the type of the parameter. The following values are acceptable:

o STR—String value

o BOOL—Boolean value (Yes / No)

o INTEGER—Integer value

o REAL—Real value

o NONE—No standard type

• [equality] is the equality. The following values are acceptable:

o EQ—Equal to a value or a list of values

o NEQ—Not equal to a value or a list of values

o LT—Less than

o GT—Greater than

o LTE—Less than or equal to

o GTE—Greater than or equal to

• [value] is the value. The value is case-sensitive. The following values are
applicable:

o The exact value can be specified, or a number can be given for less-than or
greater-than checks.

o PDM can be specified if the parameter is supposed to be PDM designated.

o NULL can be specified if the parameter does not have an assigned value.

o *, ?, # and $ can be used as wildcards, where

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*—Any number of characters

?—One character (numerical, alphabetical, or symbol)

#—One numerical character

$—One string character

Note: You cannot use wildcards with parameters of type REAL.

o LIST_XXX can be specified where XXX is the name of a list of acceptable

values.

PRT_PARAMETER DRAWN_BY STR EQ LIST_DESIGNERS

Specify each member of the list on a separate line in the start configuration
file:

LIST_DESIGNERS Michael Jordan

LIST_DESIGNERS Grant Hill
LIST_DESIGNERS Penny Hardaway

This list would allow the three names as acceptable values for the given
parameter.

For example:
PRT_PARAMETER MODEL STR EQ circ
PRT_PARAMETER PN NONE EQ PDM
PRT_PARAMETER PN NONE EQ ????-???
PRT_PARAMETER COMPANY STR EQ PTC
PRT_PARAMETER EMPTY NONE EQ NULL
PRT_PARAMETER DRAWN_BY STR EQ LIST_DESIGNERS
PRT_PARAMETER RELEASED BOOL EQ YES
PRT_PARAMETER DRAFT_ANGLE REAL LTE 5
PRT_PARAMETER DESCRIPTION STR EQ *test
PRT_PARAMETER MATERIAL STR EQ PDM
PRT_PARAMETER RC_MODEL_TYPE STR EQ LIST_MODEL_TYPE
PRT_PARAMETER ENG_PRJ_NO STR EQ PDM
PRT_PARAMETER DEPARTMENT STR LTE LENGTH_12
PRT_PARAMETER MASS REAL
PRT_PARAMETER VOLUME REAL
PRT_PARAMETER MC_INT INTEGER EQ 12345
PRT_PARAMETER MC_REAL REAL EQ 5.33

Wildcard examples:
• *test—The value has to end in test, so model test would be an acceptable value.

• ??-??—The value has to be five characters long with a hyphen (-) as the third
character.

• ####-$000—The first four characters have to be numbers, the fifth character

has to be a dash (-), character number 6 has to be a letter, and the last 3
characters have to be zeros.

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Note: Parameters in the model that are not listed as start items can be reported as
extra parameters by setting the EXTRA_PARAMS check in the check configuration
file. ModelCHECK lists extra parameters and you can delete them from the model.

Pro/ENGINEER Build and Version

ModelCHECK can check when the current model was last saved to ensure that the
proper version of Pro/ENGINEER was used. Use the following format in the start
configuration file:
PRT_PRO_VERSION 1997360
ASM_PRO_VERSION 1998410
DRW_PRO_VERSION 1996320

Dates must be specified using the following format: YYYYWW0

where YYYY denotes the year, WW the week and 0 the first build of the week.
Note: The date must be an actual Pro/ENGINEER date code. For example, click Help
> About Pro/ENGINEER to see the date code (manufacturing code) for your
current session.

Relation & Relation Comments

ModelCHECK can check for standard relations and comment lines when it runs. Use
the following format in the start configuration file:
PRT_RELATION MASS=mp_mass("")
PRT_COMMENT Sets the mass parameter to the mass value
PRT_RELATION D12=5

Sheet Metal Bend Table

Standard sheet metal bend tables are listed in the start configuration file as shown in
the following example:
SHTMTL_BTNAME Bend_1

Tolerance Type
ModelCHECK can verify the type of tolerance used for the model. Two types are
available, ANSI and DIN/ISO. Use the following format in the start configuration file:
PRT_TOL_TYPE ANSI
PRT_TOL_TYPE DIN/ISO

Views
Standard views are listed in the start configuration file as shown in the following
example:
PRT_VIEW FRONT
ASM_VIEW SIDE

Specify the standard names of views for the model.

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Drawing Mode Configuration Options for the Start File

This topic explains the features available in the start configuration file for drawings.

Drawing Format
Standard drawing formats are listed in the start configuration file as shown in the
following example:
DRW_FORMAT A_MFG
DRW_FORMAT A_QC

Any formats listed here must be files having the .frm extension and located in a
directory where Pro/ENGINEER can find them. This means that they either have to
exist in the Pro/ENGINEER formats directory or in a location specified by the
PRO_FORMAT_DIR configuration option in your config.pro file.

Drawing Note Fonts and Heights

Standard note fonts and heights are listed in the start configuration file as shown in
the following example:
DRW_NOTE_FONT leroy
DRW_NOTE_FONT isofont
DRW_NOTE_HEIGHT .25
DRW_NOTE_HEIGHT .35

Drawing Layers
Standard drawing layers are listed using the DRW_LAYER configuration option exactly
as in the part and assembly modes.

Drawing Symbols
Standard drawing symbols are listed in the start configuration file as shown in the
following example:
DRW_SYMBOL PTC_LOGO
DRW_SYMBOL ANSI

Drawing Table Cells

This check verifies that specific table cells contain standard text. Standard table cell
text is designated using the DRW_TABLE_CELLS configuration option in the start
configuration file.
Tables are identified by looking for a certain cell with specific text in it. Once found,
ModelCHECK looks for a second cell and makes sure that it contains standard text.

Format
This is set up using the following syntax:
DRW_TABLE_CELLS [row1, col1, str1] [row2, col2, str2]

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For example:
DRW_TABLE_CELLS [1,1,BOM] [4,2,PTC]

Then, a certain cell can be checked in every table for specific text.
This is set up as follows:
DRW_TABLE_CELLS [row,col,string]

Unacceptable Notes in Drawings

Unacceptable text is defined in the start configuration file or in separate text files
using the following syntax:
DRW_NOTE_UNACC [NOTE_TEXT]

This text is case sensitive.

If a separate text file is used, it is designated in the start configuration file as
follows:
STD_DRW_INFO_FILE [FILE_NAME]

Drawing Sheets to be Ignored

Drawing sheets to be ignored are specified in the start configuration file using the
following syntax:
DRW_IGNORE_SHEETS [PARAM_NAME] [Sheet]

Where
• [PARAM_NAME] is the name of a parameter that must exist in the drawing in order
to complete this check. If the parameter does not exist, this check is skipped.

• [Sheet] is the sheet number to be skipped. Acceptable values are:

o FIRST—The first sheet in the drawing

o LAST—The last sheet in the drawing

o ##—A specific sheet number

o LIST_xxx—A list of sheets. You can create a list using the following syntax:

LIST_xxx 1

LIST_xxx 2

Setting Up External Files

About External Files

External files contain the standard values to be used during the checking process.
For example, use external files to list the standard sheet metal wall thicknesses. You

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can specify the external files that ModelCHECK must use in the start configuration
file.

To Set Up the External Files Using the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration

Tool

1. Click adjacent to Text Files in the left pane of the PTC ModelCHECK
Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Select the required text file. A table listing the contents of the file appears in the
right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new external file.

3. Edit the contents using the boxes. You can add and delete rows as required.

4. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the External Files

1. Open the file using a text editor. By default, external files are located in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config/text.

2. Add the contents in the appropriate format.

3. Save the file with the appropriate extension.

External Files Configuration Options for the Start File

Explanations of options in the start configuration file for external files follow.

Hole and Cut Diameter File

Specifies the name of the external text file in which standard hole and cut diameters
are listed in the start configuration file. For example:
STD_HOLE_DIAM_FILE c:\apps\mc\config\text\holes.txt

The hole and cut diameter file has the following format:
# ModelCHECK Standard Hole Size File
#
UNIT INCH
.125
.25
.375
UNIT MM
2.5
3
4
4.1
Note: The declaration of units must be in uppercase.

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Draft Angle File

Specifies the name of the external text file in which standard draft angles are listed
in the start configuration file. For example:
STD_DRAFT_ANGLE_FILE c:\apps\mc\config\text\draft.txt

The draft angle file has the following format:

# ModelCHECK Standard Draft Angles File
#
UNIT DEGREE
.25
.5
.75
Note: The declaration of units must be in uppercase.

Sheet Metal Thickness File

Specifies the name of the external text file in which standard sheet metal wall
thicknesses are listed in the start configuration file. For example:
STD_SHTMTL_THICK_FILE c:\apps\mc\config\text\thick.txt

The sheet metal thickness file has the following format:

# ModelCHECK Standard Sheet Metal Thicknesses File
#
UNIT INCH
.125
.25
.375
UNIT MM
0.5
2
3
4
Note: The declaration of units must be in uppercase.

Custom Checks
Specifies the name of the external text file in which custom checks are listed in the
start configuration file. For example:
CUSTOM_CHECKS_FILE c:\apps\mc\config\text\custom_checks.txt

External Lists
Most list items can be moved to external text files. This helps to keep the
configuration files short so you can reuse list items in multiple configuration files.
The following items can be placed in external lists:
• Lists of Parameter Values

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• Lists of Model Names

• Sheet Metal Bend Tables

• Drawing Format Names

• Drawing Note Heights

• Drawing Note Fonts

• Standard Relations

• Standard Relation Comments

• Unit Lengths

• Unit Mass

• Family Table Parameters

• Required and unacceptable parameter notes

• Standard model notes

• Drawing Symbols

Example of lists in the configuration file:

PRT_PARAMETER DRAWN_BY STR EQ LIST_DESIGNERS
PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ LIST_MODEL_NAMES

LIST_DESIGNERS Damon Stoudamire

LIST_DESIGNERS Walt Williams
LIST_MODEL_NAMES block
LIST_MODEL_NAMES bolt

Example of lists in separate text files:

PRT_PARAMETER DRAWN_BY STR EQ LIST_DESIGNERS
PRT_MODEL_NAME EQ LIST_MODEL_NAMES
STD_USER_LIST_FILE designers.txt
STD_USER_LIST_FILE model_names.txt

The two text files would then contain the following lines:
• designers.txt

LIST_DESIGNERS Damon Stoudamire

LIST_DESIGNERS Walt Williams

• model_names.txt

LIST_MODEL_NAMES block
LIST_MODEL_NAMES bolt

Drawing Detail File

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The settings in the current drawing detail file, also known as the drawing setup file,
are compared to the settings in a standard drawing detail file that is saved on disk.
Different standard drawing detail files can be specified for different format names
using the STD_DRW_DTL_FILE start configuration option as follows:
STD_DRW_DTL_FILE [format_name] [path to the drawing detail file]

A line-by-line comparison between the specified drawing detail file and the one that
is currently set for the drawing is performed and any discrepancies are reported in
the ModelCHECK report.
There is no limit to the number of standard drawing detail files that you can specify.
It is suggested that you set the following line at the end of all standard drawing
detail file listings in the start configuration file:
STD_DRW_DTL_FILE DEFAULT [file_name]

The standard drawing detail file specified in the DEFAULT line is used if the format
for the drawing being checked is not listed in the lines before it in the start
configuration file.

Drawing Information
You can specify the location of an external text file for drawing formats using the
STD_DRW_INFO_FILE start configuration option.
The external text file may contain the following drawing items:

Drawing model name specifications DRW_MODEL_NAME

Drawing format for the FORMAT_NAME DRW_FORMAT

check

Drawing parameters for the DRW_PARAMETER

STARTCHECK check

Drawing layers for the STARTCHECK DRW_LAYER

check

Drawing layer move specifications for DRW_LAYER_MOVE

the LAYER_MOVE check

Drawing note font name specifications DRW_NOTE_FONT

for the NOTE_FONT check

Drawing note height specifications for DRW_NOTE_HEIGHT

the NOTE_HEIGHT check

Drawing table cell specifications for the DRW_TABLE_CELLS

TABLE_CELLS check

Unacceptable notes for the DRW_NOTE_UNACC

NOTE_UNACCEPT check

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Add a check name and value as a DRW_ADD_CHK_PARAM

parameter

Version string for the PRO_VERSION DRW_PRO_VERSION

check

Sheets to ignore during ModelCHECK DRW_IGNORE_SHEETS

Regeneration Messages
When a model is regenerated from its first feature, warning messages are sometimes
displayed in the Pro/ENGINEER message window. ModelCHECK can report the
messages as either errors or warnings. The checks to enable this are REGEN_ERRS
and REGEN_WRNS.
The text that is searched for is configured in a file that has a default name of
mc_regen.mcr, which is found in the ModelCHECK config directory.
The MC_REGEN_CONFIG_FILE configuration option in the start configuration file is used
to specify the name and location of the mc_regen.mcr file as shown below:
MC_REGEN_CONFIG_FILE text\mc_regen.mcr

There are two sections to the mc_regen.mcr file, one for errors and another for
warnings. Each line is designated by either an E or a W. Below is an example of what
this file looks like:
# ModelCHECK Regen Config file (amn) 9-27-99
# This file contains a list of strings to search for
# among the lines that are output when MC Regen is run.
# The format is either E:strings or W:strings
# E means to consider all matching lines to be errors
# W means to consider all matching lines to be warnings

E:ERROR
E:Reference for the section entity no longer exists
E:WARNING: CUT is entirely outside the model
W:WARNING: Design intent is unclear

Custom Configurable Checks

About Creating a New Check from Two or More Checks

You can use the outcome of two or more checks to create a new check. A situation in
which a new check is useful is described as follows:
The total number of features reported by the REG_FEATURES check can divide the
number of datum planes reported by the DTM_PLANE_INFO check. The results can
be reported as Number of datum planes as a percentage of all features
and a threshold can be set where an error is reported if the number goes over 25
percent.

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The new check is listed in the check configuration file using the following syntax:
[CHK]_[user_defined_name]_[check_mode] YNEW E E E E Y
Where:
• CHK specifies that it is a custom check.

• user_defined_name is the user-defined and case-sensitive name of the check.

• check_mode is the mode in which the check is to be run. The mode can be PRT,
DRW, or ASM.

The check definition is stored in a separate file and is specified in the start
configuration file as follows:
CUSTOM_CHECKS_FILE custom_check.txt

The file can be named whatever you like. In this instance it is called
custom_check.txt. If no path is given, the file is assumed to be in the config
directory.

Example: Custom Check File

The custom check file contains the following information:
# Custom Check File

# CUSTOM1

DEF_CUSTOM1 (100 * DTM_PLANE_INFO/REG_FEATURES)

CND_CUSTOM1 GT 25

MSG_CUSTOM1 CUSTOM: Number of datum planes as a percentage of all

features

Each line in the custom_check.txt file is defined as follows:

• DEF_(user_defined_name)—Definition of check

The following operators are allowed: LT, GT, EQ, NEQ, LTE, and GTE.

• CND_(user_defined_name)—Definition of condition

The following operators are allowed: LT, GT, EQ, NEQ, LTE, and GTE.

A second set of constraints can be added by adding an AND or an OR operator. For

example:

GT 20 AND LT 30

• MSG_(user_defined_name)—Report message

Note: Each line can be up to 256 characters long.

Setting Up the Constant Configuration File

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About the Constant Configuration File

The constant configuration file, or constant file, has the .mcn extension and contains
the values of constants that ModelCHECK uses. Use the constant configuration file to
specify constant values such as the length of a short edge. There can be several of
these files. The condition file determines which constant file to use each time you run
ModelCHECK.

To Set Up the Constant Configuration File Using the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool
1. Click adjacent to Configuration settings in the left pane of the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click adjacent to Constant files.

3. Select the required constant file. A table listing the constants and their values
appears in the right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog
box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new constant configuration file.
ModelCHECK dynamically updates all boxes listing constant configuration files in
the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box with the name of the new
file.

4. Edit the constants and their values using the boxes.

You can add and delete rows to add and delete constants, respectively.

5. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the Constant Configuration File

1. In <proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config/constant,
open a text file.

2. Add options to specify constant values. Save the file with the .mcn extension.

3. Create as many constant configuration files as required. The condition file

determines the constant file for use.

Example: Constant Configuration File (.mcn)

# CONSTANT REPORT CONFIGURATION

SHORT_EDGE CALCULATE
PERC_EARLY_ROUND 0.5
PERC_EARLY_CHAM 0.5
PERC_EARLY_DRAFT 0.5
SMALL_RADIUS 0.5
ACCURACY_LOW 0.0005
ACCURACY_UPP 0.0013

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MIN_ABS_ACCURACY 0.001
MAX_ABS_ACCURACY 0.02
SHARP_ANGLE 10.0
GLOBAL_INTF_DAYS 1
MIN_TOLERANCE 0.1
SHORT_EDGE_BATCH 0.5
RC_PARAMETER_NAME PART_TYPE
PERC_EARLY_COSMETIC 0.7
MAX_SKETCH_ITEMS 100
MCSI1_TOL 0.100000
MCSI2_TOL 0.100000
MCSI3_TOL 0.100000
MCSI4_TOL 0.100000
MCSI5_TOL 0.100000
TINY_ELMNT_TOL 0.0012
TINY_ELMNT_AREA_TOL 0.020
TINY_DRW_ELMNT_TOL 0.020
ID_ELMNT_TOL 0.020
ID_DRW_ELMNT_TOL 0.020
POS_CONT_TOL1 0.100
TANG_CONT_TOL2 0.100
CURV_CONT_TOL3 10.000
POLYN_DEG_TOL 11
KNOT_TOL 0.020
SELF_DIST_TOL 0.020
TINY_SEGMENT_TOL 0.200
CURVATURE_RAD_TOL 0.500
BOUND_ANGLE_MIN 1.000
BOUND_CRV_INT_TOL 0.09
BOUND_CRV_SRF_TOL 0.07
NUM_SEGMENT_TOL 2
KNIFE_EDGE_TOL 2.000
DIST_VERT_EDGE_TOL 0.020
DIST_VERT_FACE_TOL 0.020

Options in the Constant Configuration File

The constant configuration file has the following configuration options:
• SHORT_EDGE and SHORT_EDGE_BATCH

Defines the minimum length of edges before ModelCHECK considers them short.

Two values are available for the SHORT_EDGE configuration option:

o A numeric value.

o The string CALCULATE. In Interactive mode, ModelCHECK automatically

calculates a suggested value for short edges and applies it to the model
being checked.

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In Batch mode, ModelCHECK does not calculate the suggested value for
short edges. The SHORT_EDGE_BATCH configuration option is used to set the
value in this case.

The value of the SHORT_EDGE_BATCH configuration option is only used if the

SHORT_EDGE configuration option is set to CALCULATE. Otherwise, the value
of the SHORT_EDGE configuration option overrides the value of the
SHORT_EDGE_BATCH configuration option.

• PERC_EARLY_ROUND

Defines the percentage of all features in a model, starting from the top of the
Model Tree, in which a round must not be present.

• PERC_EARLY_DRAFT

Defines the percentage of all features in a model, starting from the top of the
Model Tree, in which draft features must not be present.

• PERC_EARLY_CHAMF

Defines the percentage of all features in a model, starting from the top of the
Model Tree, in which chamfers must not be present.

• SMALL_RADIUS

Defines the minimum radius of cylindrical surfaces (for rounds, holes, and so on).

• ACCURACY_LOW

Defines the minimum acceptable relative accuracy.

• ACCURACY_UPP

Defines the maximum acceptable relative accuracy.

• MIN_ABS_ACCURACY

Defines the minimum acceptable value for a model’s absolute accuracy. This
option is only used if the model’s accuracy is set to absolute.

• MAX_DRAW_SHEETS

This defines the maximum number of drawing sheets allowed.

• MAX_ABS_ACCURACY

Defines the maximum acceptable value for a model’s absolute accuracy. This is
only used if the model’s accuracy is set to absolute.

• SHARP_ANGLE

Defines the minimum angle between two surfaces that are considered sharp.

• MIN_TOLERANCE

Specifies the maximum allowable dimensional tolerance in a model.

• RC_PARAMETER_NAME

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Determine the set of rules for RuleCHECK to apply to the model. If this line does
not exist in the configuration file, the RC_MODEL_TYPE parameter is used by
default.

• PERC_EARLY_COSMETIC

Defines the early cosmetic features as a percentage of all the features in a

model.

• MAX_SKETCH_ITEMS

Defines the maximum number of entities allowed in a sketched feature.

• MCSI1_TOL

Defines the tolerance value, as a percentage, for the volume of a model.

ModelCHECK uses this value to search for duplicate models. The largest allowable
value is 0.1, that is, 10%.

• MCSI2_TOL

Defines the tolerance value, as a percentage, for the surface area of a model.
ModelCHECK uses this value to search for duplicate models. The largest allowable
value is 0.1, that is, 10%.

• MCSI3_TOL

Defines the tolerance value, as a percentage, for the first principal moment of
inertia of a model. ModelCHECK uses this value to search for duplicate models.
The largest allowable value is 0.1, that is, 10%.

• MCSI4_TOL

Defines the tolerance value, as a percentage, for the second principal moment of
inertia of a model. ModelCHECK uses this value to search for duplicate models.
The largest allowable value is 0.1, that is, 10%.

• MCSI5_TOL

Defines the tolerance value, as a percentage, for the third principal moment of
inertia of a model. ModelCHECK uses this value to search for duplicate models.
The largest allowable value is 0.1, that is, 10%.

GeomIntegrityCHECK Constants
• TINY_ELMNT_TOL

• TINY_ELMNT_AREA_TOL

• TINY_DRW_ELMNT_TOL

• ID_ELMNT_TOL

• ID_DRW_ELMNT_TOL

• POS_CONT_TOL1

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• TANG_CONT_TOL2

• CURV_CONT_TOL3

• POLYN_DEG_TOL

• KNOT_TOL

• SELF_DIST_TOL

• TINY_SEGMENT_TOL

• CURVATURE_RAD_TOL

• BOUND_ANGLE_MIN

• BOUND_CRV_INT_TOL

• BOUND_CRV_SRF_TOL

• NUM_SEGMENT_TOL

• KNIFE_EDGE_TOL

• DIST_VERT_EDGE_TOL

• DIST_VERT_FACE_TOL

See the topics on GeomIntegrityCHECK for information about the

GeomIntegrityCHECK constants.

Setting Up the Status Configuration File

About the Status Configuration File

The status configuration file, or status file, has the .mcq extension and contains the
criteria for the status of the model. Several such files can exist. The condition file
determines which status file to use each time you run ModelCHECK. The criteria are
the number of errors and warnings.
ModelCHECK decides the status of the model as follows:
• Green—less than or equal to the number of errors or warnings for the GREEN
option in the status configuration file.

• Yellow—less than or equal to the number of errors or warnings for the YELLOW
option and greater than the numbers for the GREEN option in the status
configuration file.

• Red—greater than the number of errors or warnings for the YELLOW option in the
status configuration file.

To Set Up the Status Configuration File Using the PTC ModelCHECK

Configuration Tool

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1. Click adjacent to Configuration settings in the left pane of the PTC

ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

2. Click adjacent to Status files.

3. Select the required status file. A table listing the status definitions appears in the
right pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

Note: Click Create new file to create a new status configuration file.
ModelCHECK dynamically updates all boxes listing status configuration files in the
PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box with the name of the new file.

4. Edit the status definitions using the boxes for the maximum number of errors and
warnings.

You can add and delete rows to add and delete status definitions, respectively.

5. Click Save or Save as to save your changes to the current or a different file,
respectively.

To Manually Set Up the Status Configuration File

1. In <proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/config/status, open a
text file.

2. Add the criteria for the status. Save the file with the .mcq extension.

3. Create as many status configuration files as necessary. The condition file

determines the status file for use.

Example: Status Configuration File (.mcq)

GREEN 5E,10W
YELLOW 8E,15W
In the previous example:
• The status of the model is green if there are not more than 5 errors and (or) 10
warnings.

• The status of the model is yellow if there are not more than 8 errors and (or) 15
warnings.

• The status of the model is red if there are more than 8 errors and (or) 15
warnings.

Using the Spell Checker

About the Spell Checker

When ModelCHECK runs in Drawing mode, it checks for spelling errors. You can:
• Highlight the misspelled words.

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• Automatically replace the misspelled words with a specified new word.

• Add the word to the dictionary as spelled correctly. The word remains accessible
to all ModelCHECK users.

To Use the Spell Checker

1. Open or create a drawing.

2. Run ModelCHECK. If spelling errors are found, a link to a report page appears.

3. Click the link. Misspelled words are listed.

4. Perform the desired action.

Spell Checker Dictionaries

The spell checker has two dictionaries, words and user_words, both stored in
<modelcheck-loadpoint>/text/<language>/spell. The ModelCHECK loadpoint can
be either <proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk or the location specified by the $MCDIR
environment variable.
• user_words—Standard dictionary. Add words from a ModelCHECK report here. All
ModelCHECK users need read and write access to this file.

• words—Default dictionary. Do not modify.

ModelCHECK Reports

About ModelCHECK Reports

Each time ModelCHECK runs, the ModelCHECK report is created, the browser
embedded in Pro/ENGINEER is maximized, and the report is displayed in the
browser. The ModelCHECK report is HTML-based.
Note: The SHOW_REPORT configuration option in the config_init.mc file must be set
to Y to display the ModelCHECK report in the browser.
Through the ModelCHECK report, you can highlight recommendations directly in
Pro/ENGINEER or have ModelCHECK implement them automatically. In many cases,
ModelCHECK also provides detailed supporting documentation about a
recommendation.
The messages in ModelCHECK reports are fully customizable. You can change the
wording of report items to include different terms or a different language. Language
information is stored in three text files:
• msg_mcmsg.txt

• msg_mcmisc.txt

• msg_mcdesc.txt

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You can configure ModelCHECK to create summary reports. ModelCHECK directly

writes the summary reports to the directory specified by the DIR_REPORT
configuration option in the config_init.mc file.

To Configure Report Titles

1. Browse to <modelcheck-loadpoint>/text/<language>.

2. Before you modify a file, create a backup.

Note: Preserve the format of any file you edit. Do not change the first two lines
of each entry (the check name or the original message).

3. Edit the following files as required.

o msg_mcmsg.txt—For all messages found in the detailed report.

o msg_mcmisc.txt—For all miscellaneous strings not associated with a check.

o msg_mcdesc.txt—For short check titles.

To Use the ModelCHECK Report

1. Use the links in the top-right corner of the report to see an assembly models
report, the drawing models report, or a list of the failed checks for the entire
assembly. The assembly report has links to reports of individual components of
the assembly.

2. The tabs in the top bar of the report show the categories under which the checks
are classified. Choose a category to see the results of specific checks.

Note: The All tab is chosen by default displaying the checks configured as errors
or warnings.

3. The bar below the tabs shows the model name and its status. Click the arrow
adjacent to the model name to see information about the model such as the date
of the report, the operating mode, the configuration files used, the user who
checked the model, the user who last saved the model, and the date when the
model was created. Click to generate and display a report that can be
printed.

4. The table in the report gives a list of checks. Click the check boxes above the
table to further refine the display of the checks as follows:

o Click the check box to show the failed checks that have been configured
as errors.

o Click the check box to show the failed checks that have been configured
as warnings.

o Click the check box to show the information-only checks.

o Click the check box to show the checks that are successful.

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Note: Only the errors and warnings are shown by default. A number adjacent to
each check box indicates the number of checks of each type.

The table has four columns as follows:

o A serial number

o The status of the check

o The name of the check

o The number of instances in the current part or assembly or information

about the check

Note: You can sort the table based on the status, name, and results. By default,
the table is sorted by the name of the check.

5. To access the online help for a check, click , , , or to the left of the
name of each check in the table. A page with information specific to the check
appears.

6. Click the name of a check in the table to see its details and instances in the lower
part of the report.

In the lower part of the report, you can perform actions on the model such as:

o Highlight a feature

o Ignore a problem

o Delete a feature

o Update information

o View references

Note: The actions vary for different checks.

Example: Modifying the msg_mcmsg.txt File

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The following example shows how the msg_mcmsg.txt file can be modified. The
DISK_SPACE entry has a default value of File Size. It was changed to Disk Space
Used.
!

REPORT MESSAGES

! Language file for ModelCHECK for Ver 1.6.(8-25-97)

! Each check has 3 information lines:

! 1) The check name

! 2) The original (English) text for this check

! 3) The new (alt language) text for this check

# PART REPORT CONFIGURATION

DISK_SPACE

File size:

Disk Space Used:

MEMORY_SPACE

Memory space:

INSTANCE_NAME

Instance name begins with the generic name:

Summary Reports
You can configure ModelCHECK to create HTML-based summary reports by setting
the HTML_FILE_OUTPUT configuration option in the config_init.mc file to Y. The
types of summary reports are:
• Summary report for single parts, assemblies, and drawings

The report files are named <part_name>.p.dsumm.html for parts,

<assembly_name>.a.dsumm.html for assemblies, and
<drawing_name>.d.dsumm.html for drawings.

• Bill of Materials summary report for assemblies

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The report file is named <assembly_name>.a.dabom.html.

• Drawing and model summary report for drawings

The report file is named <drawing_name>.d.ddbom.html.

The summary reports and the corresponding XML-based reports are written to the
directory specified by the DIR_REPORT configuration option in the config_init.mc
file.

Optimizing ModelCHECK

About Optimizing ModelCHECK for Speed

You can add a line to the condition.mcc file to have ModelCHECK skip checking
certain models if a parameter exists or if its value is set to a specific value. If a
model so designated is the member of an assembly on which ModelCHECK is
running, the model is skipped. Consider the following to optimize ModelCHECK for
speed:
• ModelCHECK is preconfigured to look for a model parameter called NOCHECK. If
this exists, the model is skipped. Set up this model parameter by clicking Tools
> Parameters and then creating NOCHECK as a string parameter using the
respective boxes.

You can change the name of the parameter by editing the condition.mcc file as
follows:

#OVERRIDE CHECKS
IF (<parameter_name>) NOCHECK

where parameter_name is the name of the parameter. If the parameter exists,

the model is skipped.

• In Assembly mode, ModelCHECK automatically skips checking a model if the

value of the MC_ERRORS parameter is 0 (it is a good model) and the model has
not changed since it was retrieved.

• The most resource intensive checks follow. By disabling them, you can increase
the speed of ModelCHECK by about 50 percent.

In Part mode disable:

o SHARP_EDGE

o SRF_EDGES

o ACCURACY_INFO

o SLA_INFO

o ADD_CHK_PARAM

o SHORT EDGE set to CALCULATE (use a value instead)

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o SKETCH_ITEMS

o DUPLICATE_MODELS

o All GeomIntegrityCHECK checks

In Drawing mode disable:

o STD_DTL_SETUP

o NOTE_INFO

o DRW_SHEET_ALL set to Y in the config_init.mc file

• Set the DIR_REPORTS configuration option in the config_init.mc file to a

directory on the local machine. With this setup, files do not have to be written
across the network every time ModelCHECK runs. It is not important how the
DIR_METRICS configuration option is configured. The metrics file is only written
once when you exit Pro/ENGINEER.

RuleCHECK

About RuleCHECK
RuleCHECK, a component of ModelCHECK, allows companies to easily document and
enforce important engineering rules. This tool can be used to develop a design
advisor for Pro/ENGINEER users.
Rules can be defined to describe a company’s engineering rules, design process
steps, required deliverables, and Pro/ENGINEER best practices. Each type of part and
assembly that a company designs can have specific rules assigned for it.
The RuleCHECK report shows the names and description of the rules applied to the
model.

To Start RuleCHECK
1. Open a part or assembly.

2. Click Analysis > ModelCHECK > ModelCHECK Rule Check.

Types of Rules
Some types of rules a company can use are:
• Engineering rules

These rules can include required part thickness, clearances, draft angles, or
materials. These rules capture a company's knowledge base on how to design
high quality parts that are easy to manufacture. They can be used to offer design
advice to new engineers.

• Design process steps

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The effectiveness of Pro/ENGINEER is dependent on how it is used. For example,

some assemblies are best designed top-down while others are best designed
bottom-up. Often, once a type of assembly is built a number of times, the most
efficient methodology becomes evident. It should be documented for all users.

• Required deliverables

In order to support downstream applications such as analysis, manufacturing,

marketing, and ERP, Pro/ENGINEER users must define or create specific
parameters, simplified representations, drawings, and neutral files.

• Pro/ENGINEER best practices

Pro/ENGINEER contains many advanced features that allow the efficient modeling
of complex products. Unfortunately, many users are not well trained in functions
such as user-defined features (UDFs), simplified representations, interchange,
reroute, and how to properly use master models. Specific functions can be
recommended for use on different types of models.

Defining Rules
RuleCHECK can attach different rules to different types of models. Model types are
defined with the RC_MODEL_TYPE model parameter. This parameter allows you to use
parameters that already exist in your model. RuleCHECK uses the RC_MODEL_TYPE
parameter to determine which set of rules to associate with the model. You must
define this parameter in each model. The existence and proper definition of this
parameter can be checked by ModelCHECK.
Each set of rules is stored in a separate file. By default, the rule files are in
<proengineer-loadpoint>/modchk/text/<language>/rules. These files can have
any name, but must have a .rule extension. In order to associate a model with a
set of rules, the value of the RC_MODEL_TYPE parameter and the rule file name must
be the same. The following table illustrates this:

RC_MODEL_TYPE Rule File Name

Steel steel.rule

Sheetmetal sheetmetal.rule

Casting casting.rule

Two types of rules can be defined: soft rules and hard rules.

Soft Rules
Soft rules offer design advice to users. These general guidelines do not need to be
followed specifically.

Hard Rules

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Hard rules offer design advice that must be followed explicitly. RuleCHECK attaches a
status to each of these rules. You must sign off that these rules have been satisfied.
The status of each rule can be set to one of three states:
• Pending—The rule has been attached to the model, but it has not yet been
applied. This is the default status.

• Complete—The rule has been applied to the model. You can also add comments
to the rules. When you set a rule’s status to complete, you have to sign off that
the rule has been satisfied.

• Override—The rule has been overridden. If you cannot satisfy a rule, you must
document that you attempted to conform to the rule, but could not. In order to
continue you must enter the reason for overriding the rule.

When Complete or Override are chosen, a comment window becomes available in

which you can type information such as your name, date, and the reason why you
are changing the status of the rule.
Status changes are written to the Pro/ENGINEER model but are not written to the
disk until the model is saved. Although the status is stored with the model, the only
way for you to modify it is through RuleCHECK.

Implementing RuleCHECK
RuleCHECK can be used to offer advice and enforce design rules. It can also be used
to document a design process for possible automation.
As a design advisor, RuleCHECK offers immediate access to a company’s design
knowledge. Often this information is stored in design manuals, industry design
codes, and in the minds of senior designers. Engineers must know when and where
to search for this information. Today, products are becoming more complex, design
time is reduced, and there is considerable turnover and reorganization of engineering
staff. Immediate access to correct and up-to-date engineering knowledge is critical
to the success of many projects. With RuleCHECK, this information is made available
in a proactive fashion and is integrated directly into the Pro/ENGINEER design
environment.
When creating a design automation system for Pro/ENGINEER, the most critical step
is to define the equations, rules, and design steps. Once these have been defined, it
still requires considerable effort to capture these in software and then test and debug
the system. Often during testing of the automation system, it is found that several
important rules or conditions were not anticipated. It then requires a lot of time and
effort to add these to the system.
With RuleCHECK, all the equations, rules, and design steps can be defined and
presented to the users without developing any custom software. Designs are
performed interactively in Pro/ENGINEER following these guidelines. As new rules
and conditions are encountered, they can be easily added to RuleCHECK for future
projects. Once most designs can be completed by explicitly following the steps
defined by RuleCHECK, these steps can be captured in a Pro/TOOLKIT application to
perform the design process automatically.

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Integrating RuleCHECK with ModelCHECK

ModelCHECK includes a check to see if any hard rules have been attached to the
model and whether these rules still have a status of pending. This is recorded as an
error in ModelCHECK. This way ModelCHECK enforces a company’s design standards
and rules and makes users accountable for satisfying these rules. In the end, the
design engineer is still responsible for creating good designs, but this allows
companies to define standard practices and make sure that they are followed.

Example: Using RuleCHECK

The following example shows how RuleCHECK can be used to help you design a shell
unit for a pressure vessel.
The shell.rule file contains the following rules:
• Length—Soft

• Diameter—Soft

• Thickness—Hard

And the file looks like this:

# Parametric Technology Corporation RuleCHECK Rule File
#
# Note: The name of this file should be the same as the model
# type that the rules apply to with the suffix '.rule'
#
# Lines in this file which begin with '#' are considered
# comments. The format of the rules in this file is:
#
#
# (Hard or Soft)
#
#
# EndOfRule
#
# The 'EndOfRule' indicates the end of the description, and
# description lines should be no more than 80 characters long
#
Length
Soft
1.00
RANGE: 72" to 360" (modify in skeleton part).
Should use 12" increments to avoid extra offcuts.
Set Skeleton parameter "SHELL_LENGTH" to desired value.
EndOfRule
#
Diameter
Soft
1.00
RANGE: 48" to 166"

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Must be in 3" increments, limited by manufacturing equipment.

Set Skeleton parameter "OD" to desired value.
EndOfRule
#
Thickness
Hard
1.00
RANGE: 1/2" to 2"
MINIMUM THICKNESS = P*R/(S*E-0.6*P)
NomThk = 1/8" + MINIMUM THICKNESS(or 1/2" MIN).
Modify Dimension "SHELL_THK" in the shell part to the desired value.
EndOfRule
#

The corresponding RuleCHECK report shows the names of the soft and hard rules.
Select a name to see the description and the status of the rule if it is a hard rule. You
can edit the status.

Using GeomIntegrityCHECK

About GeomIntegrityCHECK
The GeomIntegrityCHECK utility:
• Ensures that models comply with the Verbund der Automobilindustrie (VDA) 4955
design specifications.

• Validates the geometry in a model and identifies areas that could make it difficult
to import a model into a downstream application or another CAD system.

• Presents problems, if any, in a comprehensive report with details of all geometry

information in a model. This report is similar to the one created by ModelCHECK.
From this report, you can highlight problems in the Pro/ENGINEER models.

Alternatively, you can set the MC_VDA_RUN configuration option in the

config_init.mc file to run GeomIntegrityCHECK along with ModelCHECK and display
the report in the ModelCHECK report. Use Pro/ENGINEER to repair the models.

To Set Up GeomIntegrityCHECK
1. In the left pane of the PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box, click
GeomIntegrityCHECK settings.

The GeomIntegrityCHECK configuration options appear in the right pane of the

PTC ModelCHECK Configuration Tool dialog box.

Note: The config.gmc file must be available in the directory specified by the
$MCDIR environment variable and must have access permissions. If the file is not
available, the GeomIntegrityCHECK configurations options are not visible.
However you can run GeomIntegrityCHECK. In this case, GeomIntegrityCHECK
uses the config.gmc file in the system directory, in which configuration files are
stored. The path of the file is as follows:

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<modelcheck-loadpoint>/text/<language>/config/config.gmc

2. Under Configuration File, the names of the default configuration directory and
the default configuration file are displayed in their respective boxes.

o Load—Load configuration files for the geometry integrity checks. Different

checks are performed for different types of models. Some checks must be
turned off when you are checking a particular model.

o Save—Save changes in the default file (config.gmc), the name of which is

displayed in the Config File text box.

o Save As—Save in a separate file the changes you made to the default
check values. The file can be retrieved later when checking a particular
shape.

Note: You can give a new configuration file any name, as long as it has the
.gmc extension.

o Reset—Reset check values to those that are in the file that is displayed in
the Config File box.

Note:

o When you change the default check values, the changes remain in effect for
the remainder of that session. The default settings reappear when
Pro/ENGINEER is started again.

o Configuration files can be stored in two locations:

MCDIR—The environment variable used to specify the location of

configuration files.

Working directory—The directory in which you store the files you created.

3. Under Geom Checks and Allowed Values, set the check values. This
information is described in more detail in the following topics:

o All Geom Type Checks

o Curve and Drawing Checks

o Surface Checks

o Face Checks

o Topology Checks

o Solids Checks

To Start GeomIntegrityCHECK
To start GeomIntegrityCHECK when running ModelCHECK interactively on the current
model:
1. Click Analysis > ModelCHECK. The ModelCHECK menu appears.

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2. Click the ModelCHECK Geometry Check command on the menu.

GeomIntegrityCHECK functionality starts, and the Geometry CHECK dialog box
opens.

3. In the Model to Check list, click the name of the file containing the model that
you want to check. In Part mode, you can check only the part in the current
session. In Assembly mode, you can either select any component of the assembly
or click Check Sub-Models to check all the components of the assembly.

4. Under Text Report, in the Report Name box, type a name for the
GeomIntegrityCHECK report, or accept the default name, that is, <name of
model>.a.vda.mct for assemblies and <name of model>.p.vda.mct for parts.

Two reports are created when GeomIntegrityCHECK is run:

o The standard HTML report that the user sees

o A text-based report

The text report is stored in the specified directory. You do not see this report, but
it can be used as reference.

5. Click OK to start the checking process, or click Cancel to enter new settings.

Setting Check Criteria

Note: If you set the MC_VDA_RUN configuration option in the config_init.mc file to
run GeomIntegrityCHECK along with ModelCHECK, the check criteria and values are
read from the ModelCHECK check configuration and constant configuration files.
Before you set the criteria for a particular check, click Load in the PTC
ModelCHECK Configuration Tool for GeomIntegrityCHECK settings to select a
configuration directory and a configuration file. The names of the selected
configuration directory and configuration file are displayed in the Config Directory
and Config File boxes, respectively.
When you select the desired file, all of the required criteria and their values are
shown. By default, they are read from the config.gmc file in the directory specified
by the $MCDIR environment variable.
Note: The configuration file must have the .gmc extension.
The tabbed pages under Geom Checks and Allowed Values contain the criteria
used to check models. These are default values that ModelCHECK retrieves from the
configuration file. The values are listed in millimeters. ModelCHECK converts them
automatically if they are entered in a different unit of measure.
After you make your choice of settings, you can save the settings to the same
configuration file or a new configuration file. If you save them to a new configuration
file, you can reload the file later by clicking Load. When you save a file, the .gmc
extension is appended.

GeomIntegrityCHECK Configuration Options and Their Settings

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All the GeomIntegrityCHECK checks and their configuration options and default
settings are listed in the following table. For details, see the topics for the checks.
In the Default Status column, E stands for error warning. This means that when a
check is set to E, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports as an error any lack of compliance
with the default setting for that check.

Check Name Configuration Default Default

Status Setting

Tiny elements M1_TINY_ELMNT E 0.020

Identical elements M2_IDENTICAL_ELMNT E 0.020

Position continuity M3A_POSITION_CONT E 0.020

Tangential continuity M3B_TANG_CONT E 0.100

Curvature continuity M3C_CURV_CONT E 10.000

Polynomial degree M4_POLYN_DEG E 11o

Waviness M5_WAVINESS E N/A

Knot distance M6_KNOT_DIST E 0.020

Distance from itself C7_SELF_DIST E 0.020

IGES conform text D28_IGES_TEXT E N/A

Tiny segment edge SU8_TINY_SEG_EDGE E 0.200

Minimal curvature SU9_TINY_CURV_RAD E 0.500

radius mm

Angle between SU10_BOUND_ANGLE E 2.000

edges mm

Reversal of normals SU11_NORM_REVERSAL E N/A

Patch distribution SU12_PATCH_DIST E N/A

Unoccupied patch SU13_UNOC_PATCH_ROW E N/A

rows

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Penetration/distance F14_BOUND_DIST E 0.020

of boundaries

Proximity of F15_SURF_DIST E 0.020

boundary curve to
its surface

Parallel Path/similar F16_SIM_ORIENT E N/A

Orientation

Number of segments F17_NUM_SEG E 2

in a boundary curve

Junction / number of T18_NUM_FACE E 3

faces per edge

Orientation of T19_NORMAL_ORIENT E N/A

similar normals

Knife edge T20_KNIFE_EDGES E 2.000

Distance to vertex SO21_DIST_VERTEX_EDGE E 0.020

edge

Distance to vertex SO22_DIST_VERTEX_FACE E 0.020

face

Deletion of history SO23_HIST_DELETE E N/A

Auxiliary geometry SO24_EXTRA_GEOM E N/A

Cavities SO25_CAVITIES E N/A

Multi-body solids SO26_MULT_BODY E N/A

Multi-solid parts SO27_MULT_SOLID E N/A

All Geom Type Checks

When you click the All Geom Type tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a
tabbed page appears. This page contains the following checks:
• Tiny Elements

o In wire geometry (default check setting: > 0.02 mm):

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1 TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the elements in your model that are smaller

than specified in your configuration files. It also suggests the changes that
would make the model VDA-compliant. For example, you can delete a
reported tiny element if it is not required for development of higher-ranking
geometry.

Elements that fall short of a specific size in particular geometric operations

(such as scaling and generation of offsets), in exchange of data (for
example, with a system of lesser accuracy), or through further processing
can lead to invalid elements and, consequently, to gaps. These elements
usually occur through creating rounds and through closing mechanisms
during bridging of small gaps or by overlapping.

Recommended solution:

Make the tiny elements superfluous by extending (extrapolating) the

elements to be joined. Then delete the tiny elements. Alternatively, enlarge
the tiny elements and correspondingly shorten the elements to be joined.

o In surfaces (default check setting: > 0.02 mm):

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1 TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the faces and face patches whose length in at

least two opposing directions is smaller than specified in your configuration
file. This error can result in defective elements due to changes in the
system or in the tolerance range. However, deletion of the faces or face
patches can lead to gaps in the topology.

In addition, faulty tiny elements require larger storage space and increase
the likelihood of continuity problems. These elements often occur as a
result of system automation and the automatic closure of gaps in the when
data is imported from other systems.

GeomIntegrityCHECK also reports the patch strips whose smaller extents

have a less than 1:100 proportion in relation to a neighboring patch. Such
size ratios are a sign of poor partitioning.

1 Patch 1

2 Patch 2

GeomIntegrityCHECK marks ten equidistant points on each of the four

boundary or segment curves. Then it calculates the chord length from the
resulting traverse paths. If all four chord lengths or two opposing chord
lengths of an element are smaller than the 1% tolerance specified in your

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configuration file, in comparison to a neighboring segment, the element is

reported.

Recommended solution:

Avoid tiny elements or make them superfluous by enlarging and subdividing

the neighboring elements.

Note: A surface is the base face of a part that can protrude beyond the
contours of the part. Surfaces are generally bounded with simple
mathematical boundary curves and usually serve as a surface for the
bounded surfaces with complex edge curves.

Surfaces can be composed of several segment faces called patches. These

can be bound within the bounds of internal tolerances for position and
gradients. Depending upon the number of segments (n, m) of the boundary
curve, a surface is formed from a group of (n) times (m) patches.

o In bounded surfaces:

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports bounded surfaces that are smaller than

specified in your configuration file. It calculates the face contents of a
bounded surface and compares them with the VDA minimum value for that
check.

Faces that fall short of the value in your configuration file can lead to invalid
elements and thereby to gaps, especially with certain geometrical
operations (for example, scaling formation of offsets), during the exchange
of data (in a system with inferior exactness), or by subsequent processing
(NC).

Recommended solution:

Delete the bounded surface. Enlarge and adapt the neighboring elements
accordingly.

Note: Clearly defined faces, also called bounded surfaces, or faces,

describe the geometrical surface of an object, if applicable, inclusive of
holes, indentations, recesses, and so on, on the surface that forms the
basis with boundary curves that are projected upon it. The boundary curve
is an endless continuous curve.

o In solids:

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1 &=TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the solids whose expansion in two spatial

directions is smaller than specified in your configuration file.

The three main directions of expansion (for example, the main axis of
inertia) in a rectangular solid are examined. If the extension of the solid is
smaller in two coordinate directions than specified in your configuration file,
the element is reported.

The volume of the solid is also checked against the value in the
configuration file. If the volume is smaller than specified, the solid is
reported.

Recommended solution:

Delete the marked tiny elements as long as they are not associatively
connected with other geometry.

Note: All the bounded surfaces in a solid form a surface group.

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks every face in a surface group.

o In drawings:

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the drawing elements that are smaller than

specified in your configuration file.

• Identical Elements (mm)

o In wire geometry (default check setting: > 0.02 mm):

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1 TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports those elements that are identical to other

elements in the same model. Occurrence of such elements often results
from importing geometry into the model.

Identical, or double, elements unnecessarily increase the space

requirements of a model. They can also impede NC and Finite Element
Method (FEM) operations as well as the automatic recognition of continuous
curved lines.

Recommended solution:

Carefully determine which of the identical elements to delete, and then

delete it.

o In surfaces:

1 TOL

Identical elements obstruct the automatic creation of topology. The

recommended solution is to delete one of the double elements in an
identical pair. Be sure that you retain the required element.

o In drawings:

During the generation of a drawing, identical elements (that is, several lines
of varying or equal length over one another) can occur unintentionally,
which unnecessarily enlarges the space requirements of the model.
Identical elements often hinder, for example, the automatic recognition of
continuous curve paths.

Recommended solution:

Delete identical elements. As long as the elements are identical, the

duplicates can be deleted without any problem. Where several elements of
varying length are arranged vertically, under certain circumstances, you
should determine the longest element and delete the shorter ones.

• Position Continuity

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Note: A curve path consists of one or more curves with several internal
segments. Generally, there are continuity requirements that have to be fulfilled
on the borders of segments and curves. These are position continuity, tangential
continuity, and curvature continuity.

o In wire geometry (default check setting: < 0.02 mm):

1 TOL

2 TOL

When verifying position continuity, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports

discontinuities in curve and curve-segment transition points that exceed the
TOL1 configuration tolerance. Such errors can cause problems in follow-up
operations that build on the unity of curve paths, especially after scaling
and transfer within a system environment of high accuracy.

Curves are checked for continuity in position, gradient, and curvature in

relation to their segments. End and starting points of neighboring curve
segments or curves are checked for sufficient distance with the aid of a 3-D
intercept configuration tolerance TOL1. If the distance exceeds the
tolerance, the curves are reported.

Recommended solution:

Insert a small fill piece, possibly a tiny element, in the gap that makes the
discontinuity too large.

o In surfaces:

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1 TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks individual bounded surfaces and their

segments for continuity in position, gradient, and curvature at several
points. It reports discontinuities.

Recommended solution:

Regenerate the surfaces using the correct fundamental conditions.

o In topologies:

1 TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks at several points the parity of two common

boundary curves. If the gap between the curves exceeds the TOL1 gap
configuration tolerance, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the affected face
boundary.

Bounded surfaces and their associated formations describe the surfaces of

component parts and operation equipment. For this reason, the continuity
of the bounded face has a special significance.

Position continuity, that is, continuous transition of bounded surfaces within

a topology, is the most important quality characteristic within any surface
group. A permissible discontinuity that is within the bounds of the tolerance
can lead to a loss of the topology in the case of a change in the system or
in the range of tolerances. It can also cause some systems to perform an
automatic correction (healing). Because of this, unintentional changes, or
new tiny elements, can occur.

Tangential or curvature discontinuity can have an effect on the surface

quality or on the ability to mill the object.

Recommended solution:

In the case of gaps in face transitions, regenerate the affected faces with
common boundary curves.

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Note: To determine the continuity of a structure created from bounded

surfaces, the topological association of these surfaces must be established,
in case this has not been fulfilled through topology elements.

Neighboring bounded surfaces, which together form a particular part or

complete surface of an object, are called composite surfaces, surface
groups, or topology. Within a topology, special requirements apply
regarding the faces in the boundary curves.

• Tangential Continuity

o In wire geometry (default check setting: < 0.1°):

1 W_TOL

Tangential continuity means kink-free transition of two curves without a

change in the tangential angle. A tangential discontinuity is generally visible
and can be felt. Tangential discontinuities may be necessary in chamfers,
bevels, and character lines, but in other types of models they are usually
considered errors.

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the curve segments or curves whose

tangential angles exceed the TOL2 configuration angle value.

Recommended solution:

Interactively correct the curves by recreating them with identical tangent

conditions or by rounding them with an additional curve with suitable
tangent specifications. For example, round off two straights with a radius.

o In surfaces:

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1 W_TOL

GeomIntegrityCHECK measures and compares tangential angles of two

segments along a common border. If the maximum difference among the
angles exceeds the configuration angle tolerance TOL2, the affected
segment boundary is reported.

o In topologies:

The tangency angle or normal angles of two faces in a common boundary

curve are checked at several points. If the angle difference exceeds the
configuration angle tolerance TOL2, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the
affected boundary curve.

• Curvature Continuity

o In wire geometry (default check setting: < 10%):

GeomIntegrityCHECK measures the curvature radii in curves and curve

segments. It reports the curves and curve segments where the relative
difference of the radii exceeds the configuration curvature tolerance TOL3.

Curvature continuity means parity of the curvature radius at the contact

point with the curve and the resultant smooth curvature transition between
two curves. Curvature continuity of curves is usually required only in parts
with special functions, such as cams and worms, or due to stylistic
elements.

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Recommended solution:

Replace the faulty elements with elements that have suitable curvature
conditions at each end. For example, elements with constant curvatures,
such as straight lines and circles, should be replaced with free-form curves.

o In surfaces:

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks the curvature radii of two segments at several

points along the common border. If the maximum relative curvature
difference is greater than the configuration curvature tolerance TOL3, the
affected segment boundary is reported.

o In topologies:

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks the curvature radii of two faces at several

points in a common boundary curve. If the relative curvature difference
exceeds the configuration curvature tolerance TOL3, the affected boundary
curve is reported.

• Polynomial Degree

o In wire geometry (default check setting: < 11°):

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GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the curves whose polynomial degrees exceed

the upper limit specified in your configuration file.

The degree of the polynomial depiction of a curve segment determines the

degree of variance of that curve. The higher the degree, the greater the
complexity of the curve.

Curves with high polynomial degrees are susceptible to unwanted

curvature. Therefore, where appropriate, such curves must be
approximated within the bounds of a tolerance when imported from or
exported to another CAD system.

Recommended solution:

Avoid polynomial degrees greater than 9°. Practical experience has shown
that polynomial degrees of up to 6° have proved to be the best.
Unnecessary curves must be subdivided carefully into curves with lower
degrees.

o In surfaces:

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GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the surfaces where the polynomial degree in

at least one parameter direction exceeds the upper limit specified in your
configuration file.

A polynomial degree that is too high can lead to oscillations or, in the case
of a reduction of the degree through approximation, to deterioration of the
data quality with respect to faithfulness of form, storage requirements, and
continuity.

Recommended solution:

Avoid polynomial degrees greater than 9°. Practical experience has shown
that polynomial degrees of up to 6° have proved to be the best.
Unnecessary curves should be subdivided carefully into curves with lower
degrees.

o In drawings:

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the curves whose polynomial degree exceeds

the upper limit specified in your configuration file.

Curves with high polynomial degrees must be approximated during a

transfer to another CAD system, that is, they must be approximated within
the bounds of the configured tolerance and subdivided. If it is the case that
the receiving system is only able to process curves with a particular
maximum polynomial degree, it is possible that these curves could be
falsely interpreted or ignored.

Recommended solution:

Compare the polynomial degree of curves with the given maximum value
and, if appropriate, approximate through a curve of lesser degree, but with
more segments, considering the specified tolerance.

• Waviness (default check setting: waviness is not allowed in a model; see the
following definition):

o In wire geometry:

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The waviness of a planar curve is checked through the number of sign

changes along the curvature of the visible range of the curve.

A curve is rated as wavy if the sign changes more than once within a single
segment or more than twice within a triple segment. The change of signs in
the curvature should be taken into account only if the sum of the curvature
on both sides of the change of signs is larger than a variable lower limit.

o In surfaces:

GeomIntegrityCHECK checks the waviness of a bounded surface by

examining the number of sign changes along the length of the isoparameter
lines u=u1 to u=un and v=v1 to v=vm.

A face with more than three sign changes along the total length of a
parametric line or with more than one sign change within one of its
segments is rated wavy. The frequency of sign changes is taken into
account only if the curvature on both sides of a sign change is larger than a
variable lower limit.

Recommended solution:

Regenerate the surface with correct fundamental conditions, such as the

degree, edge curves, or restart points.

• Knot Distance

o In wire geometry (default check setting: > 0.02):

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GeomIntegrityCHECK examines the knot vectors of NURBS curves for pairs

of identical knots within the variable tolerance.

A knot vector is required for the definition of NURBS and B-Spline curves.
The vector defines, among other things, the number of curve segments and
the continuity of transitions between the individual curve segments.

The vectors are defined through a series of real numbers. Individual knots
can be positioned on top of one another, known as multiple weighting of
knots or multiple knots.

Recommended solution:

Regenerate the curves with large enough knot clearances.

o In surfaces:

As is the case with NURBS and B-Spline curves, a knot vector for every
parameter direction is required for the definition of NURBS and B-Spline
faces. These define the number of face segments in the u and v parameter
directions and the continuity of transitions between themselves. The knot
vector is defined through a series of real numbers.

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After a transfer of knots to a system environment with coarser tolerances, it

is possible that neighboring knots can be identical in this new environment
and, consequently, the internal continuity within the face can become
undesirable.

After you have determined all the settings for the All Geom Type checks, click OK
to start the checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

Curve and Drawing Checks

When you click the Curve & Drawing tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a
tabbed page appears. It contains the following checks:
• Distance from Itself—GeomIntegrityCHECK checks the proximity of the
boundary-curve bounded surfaces to appurtenant surfaces. It reports the
boundary curve if the curve extends beyond the parameter range of the surface.

• Self-Penetration—GeomIntegrityCHECK checks all bounded surfaces to

ascertain whether or not, within the set tolerance, the face curve paths that form
the boundary intersect themselves or whether face curve paths of a bounded
surface interpenetrate or have contact with one another. Those that do are
reported.

Self-penetrating curves:

Self-penetration has no design purpose. It is always an error. It causes problems

with other geometrical operations, such as the generation of offsets or faces, as
well as with NC programming.

Recommended solution:

Regenerate the curves correctly.

• IGES Conform Text—In drawings, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports text that does

not conform to IGES fonts.

During the generation of text and dimensioning, special characters and mutated
vowels (umlauts), as well as ß can lead to transfer problems. An excessively high
number of text characters (>70 per line) as well as multi-line text can lead to
loss during transfer and are for that reason to be avoided. Alternatively, a special
agreement concerning the problem must be reached.

Recommended solution:

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Replace special characters, umlauts, and ß (for example, ä with ae; ß with ss).
Text with more than 70 characters must be divided into several shorter texts.
Multi-line text must be replaced with several single-line texts.

After you have determined all the settings for the Curve & Drawing checks, click
OK to start the checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

Surface Checks
When you click the Surface tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a tabbed page
appears. This page contains the following checks:
• Tiny Segment Edge (default check setting: > 0.02 mm)—GeomIntegrityCHECK
reports the faces and face patches whose extents are smaller in one parameter
direction than specified in your configuration file.

A face patch with one segment edge below the tolerance can lead to undefined
normals in case of a change in the system or tolerance range.

• Minimum Curvature Radius (default check setting: > 0.5 mm)—

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the ranges of naturally bounded surfaces in which
the curvature radius is less than the value in your configuration file. It also
reports the places in which the normal to a face is not defined and where no
curvature radius can be determined.

GeomIntegrityCHECK examines face points in a model and compares the

maximum positive and negative curvatures with the limiting value specified in
your configuration file.

1 R_TOL

The curvature radius of a face must not fall short of the set value at any position,
as lesions can occur on the face during milling. The minimum curvature radius of
a face also limits the maximum clearance of an offset face.

Recommended solution:

Recreate the faulty faces through approximation or smoothing.

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• Angle Between Edge Curves (default check setting: 2° < A < 178°)—
GeomIntegrityCHECK checks whether the angle between the boundary curves of
naturally bounded surfaces lies within the critical range around 0° or 180° or not.
It measures the angles between the tangents of neighboring boundary curves
and compares them with the specified configuration value.

This error can result in undefined normals in the corner points.

Recommended solution:

Subdivide the surface or enlarge it and generate the required area as a face. The
cases in which the normals on the edge of the face and in the corners are
defined, despite a critical angle, can be ignored if the recipient of the data is in
agreement.

• Reversal of Normals (default check setting: reversal of normals is not allowed

in a model)—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the ranges of naturally bounded
surfaces in which it finds a significant local change in the difference of the normal
angle.

It generates four corner normals in the face segment, a normal at each of the
parametric center points of the four edges and in the center of the face. Then it
makes comparisons within each group.

Generally, all points on a normal vector are shown facing uniformly either toward
or away from a component. Occasionally, deviations occur on the edges of
surfaces. As a result, damage to the work piece can occur, because a tool can cut
into the face.

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ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

A special case of the folded-down or flipped-over normal at an edge can often be

found at the tip of a quasi-triangular patch. This is especially the case when two
boundary curves that meet at a point project slightly beyond the point of
intersection.

The largest corner difference must not exceed the specified value. The specified
value may be changed to 120° in order not to mark the faces with constant
changes in the normals.

Recommended solution:

Recreate the faces on which the vectors for normals have been turned around.
When doing so, carefully consider the tangential conditions at the periphery.

In a case in which a vector at the tip of a triangular patch is flipped or turned

around, the tip (within the bounds of admissible gaps and tiny elements) can be
cut off so that the new fourth edge of the patch receives an admissible length.
Alternatively, a three-sided bounded face with correct normals can be generated.

• Patch Distribution—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the surfaces on which the

number of patches exceeds the number specified in your configuration file.

A high number of patches on a surface is generally a sign of unfavorable

complexity or size of the surface. This occurs as a result of, for example, poor
approximation of a face of high degree to one of a lower degree, or as a result of
an amalgamation of areas with different curvatures in a face.

Recommended solution:

Demarcate the surfaces with large curvature differences. A surface with harmonic
curvature distribution and a large number of smaller segments can be replaced
with a surface of a higher degree.

• Unoccupied Patch Rows—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the surfaces with

unoccupied patch rows. That is, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the patch rows on
every outside boundary curve of a bounded surface with boundary curves.

Unoccupied patch rows:

146
ModelCHECK

1 Patch 2

2 Face

3 Patch 1

The area of a face that is occupied by a bounded face can, in individual cases, be
so small that whole rows of patches are unoccupied. These rows unnecessarily
take up valuable storage space. Generally, they can be erased without difficulty.

Note: Sometimes the unoccupied face domains are required in subsequent

process steps. Their reconstruction is time consuming. For this reason, there is
no general recommendation for elimination of unoccupied patch rows. If required,
subdivide the surface along an appropriate patch border and completely delete
the unoccupied surfaces.

After you have determined all the settings for the Surface checks, click OK to start
the checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

Face Checks
When you click the Faces tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a tabbed page
appears. It contains the following checks:
• Penetration or Distance of Boundaries (default check setting: > 0.02 mm)—
GeomIntegrityCHECK reports instances of penetration or contact of boundary
curves caused by using values lower than the minimum distance tolerance.

Penetration, or contact, of boundary curves caused by using values lower than

the minimum distance tolerance can lead to invalid faces (loss of face definition)
and to loss of integrity of a topology by a change in the tolerance environment.

147
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

1 TOL

Recommended solution:

Enlarge the space between boundary curves and remove loops. Where necessary,
partition faces or consolidate boundary curves.

• Proximity of Boundary Curve to its Surface (default check setting: < 0.02
mm)—In bounded surfaces, GeomIntegrityCHECK reports boundary curves with
too great a distance to the surface (normal or lateral). It also reports boundary
curves that extend beyond the parameter range of the surface.

1 TOL

2 Surface

This error would prevent the correct definition of a bounded surface. It would
require that the projection on the surface be performed once more in systems or
environments of greater exactness.

GeomIntegrityCHECK distributes equidistant points along a bounded curve and

projects them on the surface. If the distance from a point on the curve to its
projected counterpart on the surface exceeds the configuration specification, the
boundary curve is marked. In addition, if a projected point extends beyond the
parameter range of the surface, the distance between that point and the original
point on the curve is measured, and the curve is marked.

Recommended solution:

148
ModelCHECK

Create curves that are always within the range of tolerances of identical elements
as sectional curves or projections, or generate new ones where necessary.

• Parallel Path or Similar Orientation—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports boundary

curves that are not parallel, because they can lead to unwanted self-penetration
and face degeneration in some systems.

Recommended solution:

Partially reverse the direction of rotation and recreate the bounded surface.

• Number of Segments in a Boundary Curve (default check setting: < 2 mm)—

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports cases of disproportionately large numbers of
segments within a boundary curve.

Such an error raises the risk of tiny elements as well as discontinuity, and it
impedes implementation of changes.

Recommended solution:

Correct or replace boundary curves and recreate the bounded surface with them.

After you have determined all the settings for the Face checks, click OK to start the
checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

Topology Checks

149
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Neighboring bounded surfaces, which together form a particular part or a complete

surface of an object, are called composite surfaces, surface groups, or topology.
Within a topology, special requirements apply regarding the faces in the boundary
curves.
When you click the Topology tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a tabbed
page appears. It contains the following checks:
• Junction or Number of Faces per Edge (default check setting: < 3)—
GeomIntegrityCHECK checks for topological consistency (that is, the explicitness
and the unity of surface groups) and absence of junctions. It reports the location
of multiple junctions.

GeomIntegrityCHECK locates the absence of junctions by examining the

boundary curves of individual faces. A boundary curve may have in a section only
one other boundary curve that is completely or partially congruent.

It is important for the topological explicitness of a surface that every inner face
edge must have one explicit neighboring face. That is, every inner face cannot
have more than one neighboring edge and must be free from bifurcation and
junctions. It is however permissible that a face edge borders on several
neighboring face edges, one after the other (T-type butt joint).

Recommended solution:

Remove superfluous faces.

• Orientation of Similar Normals—GeomIntegrityCHECK checks whether all the

normals of neighboring faces in a group have the same orientation. It reports the
faces with normals whose orientation differs from the orientation of the majority
of normals in the same face.

If the definition of the topology element allows the presetting of a particular

direction or orientation, this check ascertains whether all the normals comply
with the preset orientation or not.

In the case of closed or unified groups, align all normals to the outside (away
from the material) or to the inside (toward the material). In the case of open
groups, reversal of the minority with a non-compliant orientation is optional.

150
ModelCHECK

The orientation of face normals within a topology must be uniform for the
determination of the machining direction by milling. The same condition is
necessary for hatched depictions and for ascertaining through the geometry the
capability for ejecting the part from the tool, or for the definition of the touch
direction by measuring.

Recommended solution:

Reverse individual face normals so that all face normals are topologically
uniformly oriented away from the material.

• Knife Edge (default check setting: > 2)—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the faces
of composite surfaces whose angle between the tangential planes on a common
boundary curve (or parts thereof) shows properties of a minute angle of nearly 0
degrees. At the restart points and fulcrums, GeomIntegrityCHECK calculates the
angle between the tangential planes. GeomIntegrityCHECK reports all angles that
are around 0 degrees.

If the angle of the tangential planes between neighboring bounded surfaces on

the common edge is too small, sharp edges or recesses occur. Such areas cannot
be produced. For example, they occur as a result of the subtraction of a cylinder
from a cube.

After you have determined all the settings for the Topology checks, click OK to start
the checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

Solids Checks
When you click the Solids tab in the Geometry CHECK dialog box, a tabbed page
appears. It contains the following checks:
• Distance to Vertex Edge (default check setting: < 0.02 mm)—
GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the vertex and the edge in a solid if the distance
between the two elements exceeds the tolerance value specified in your
configuration file.

151
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

1 Edge

2 Vertex to Edge Gap

3 Vertex

4 Face

The point that belongs to a vertex must lie within the configured tolerance on the
curve which is a part of the corresponding edge. If the distance between the
point and the curve exceeds the tolerance value, the solid is defective.

Recommended solution:

Project the point onto the curve. Otherwise, generate a new one.

Note: In a transfer of solids through neutral interfaces (for example, STEP), a

boundary representation (B-rep) is transferred. This is the description of the solid
through its bounded surfaces (faces), which represent the direct surface. These
faces form the foundation for surfaces and boundary curves.

Hence, for solids, the quality criteria for a closed (unified) group of faces are also
applicable. The criteria for surfaces, bounded surfaces (faces), and topologies are
correspondingly applicable to the bounded surfaces of a solid, including its
surfaces and boundary curves, that is, the distance from the bounded curves to
the surface.

• Distance to Vertex Face (default check setting: < 0.02 mm)—

GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the vertex and the face in a solid if the distance
between the two elements exceeds the tolerance value specified in your
configuration file.

152
ModelCHECK

1 Edge

2 Vertex

3 Vertex to Face Gap

4 Face

The point on a vertex must lie within the configured tolerance on the associated
bounded surface. If the distance between the point and the face exceeds this
value, the solid is defective.

Recommended solution:

Project the point on the face, if possible. Otherwise, generate a new one.

• Deletion of History—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the B-reps in a solid if they

have been imported into the existing model.

• Auxiliary Geometry—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports the solid elements that are

hidden from view (for example, cut-off component part areas and dead
branches).

In addition, it reports added material in component part areas that are already
filled with material, without altering the component part in any way (for example,
addition of a ball or sphere to a rectangular solid).

GeomIntegrityCHECK also reports geometrical elements that have no logical

relationship to the given solid.

• Cavities—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports solids that are fully contained in another

solid and are to be fully subtracted from.

• Multi-Body Solids—GeomIntegrityCHECK reports solids that contain two

volumes that do not touch each other. It considers the two volumes to be
separate bodies, which is unacceptable in a single solid.

• Multi-Solid Parts—In an assembly environment, there is generally only one

solid in one part. If there is more than one solid in a model, GeomIntegrityCHECK
reports them as separate solids.

After you have determined all the settings for the Solids checks, click OK to start
the checking process, or click Cancel to specify new settings.

153
ModelCHECK - Help Topic Collection

Metrics Program

About the Metrics Program

The metrics program saves ModelCHECK results to a database and generates reports
based on the information stored in the database.
The following are examples of the items that can be reported:
• The most frequent errors in the company

• The most frequent errors a certain user or groups of users are experiencing

• The average number of problems per model

• The total number of problems over time (are users improving?)

When running the metrics program, reports and graphs are generated which you can
print and store as part of a quality program.

To Install the Metrics Program

The metrics program is distributed separately. Install it on a Windows NT machine
only. It is recommended that one Windows NT machine be designated as the metrics
machine where the program is installed.
Perform the following steps to install the metrics program:
1. Download the metrics program from ftp.ptc.com with mccust as the user name
and mc21 as the password. The metrics program is located in
/u5/modelcheck/metrics.

2. Run the setup program and follow the instructions.

Note: Install version 3.0 of the metrics program and then upgrade to the 2000i
version.

To Set Up the Metrics Program

ModelCHECK's check configuration files have a fifth column (M) reserved for metrics.
A few sample lines are printed below:

# PART REPORT CONFIGURATION

STARTCHECK YNEW E E W W Y

PARAMCHECK YNEW E E W W Y

PARAM_SPELL YNEW E E W W N

The entry in the metrics column (Y or N) determines whether ModelCHECK stores

metrics for the given check when it runs.
1. Set the MC_METRICS configuration option in the config_init.mc file to turn
metrics checking on.

154
ModelCHECK

2. Set the DIR_METRICS configuration option in the config_init.mc file to specify

the directory to store the metrics files. While running, the metrics program writes
temporary files to the directory specified by the DIR_REPORTS configuration
option. The metrics program then moves the files to the location specified by the
DIR_METRICS configuration option when you exit Pro/ENGINEER

Note: To make it easier to compile and manage data, it is recommended that the
directory specified by the DIR_METRICS configuration option be set to a central
location. All users need read and write access to this directory.
The directory specified by the DIR_REPORTS configuration option should be set to a
local directory on each user’s machine. This directory is written too often. If it is a
network directory, ModelCHECK slows down.

155
Index
G setconf.mcc ........................... 7, 28

GeomIntegrityCHECK Start Configuration ...................... 7

All Geom Type Checks .............. 124 Status Configuration .................... 7

config.gmc file......................... 124 ModelCHECK Files .....7, 11, 28, 29, 33

Curve and Drawing Checks........ 124 ModelCHECK modes

Faces Checks .......................... 124 Batch......................................4, 7

Solids Checks .......................... 124 Interactive ................................. 3

Surface Checks........................ 124 Regenerate................................. 4

Topology Checks...................... 124 Save.......................................... 4

VDA Standards ........................ 124 ModelCHECK modes ................ 3, 4, 7

GeomIntegrityCHECK .................. 124 ModelCHECK Reports

M Configuring Report Titles ........... 115

ModelCHECK Summary Reports .................... 118

Configuring ModelCHECK .............. 1 ModelCHECK Reports ............115, 118

Configuring Report Titles........1, 116 R

Environments .............................. 1 RuleCHECK

Optimizing .............................. 119 Defining Rules.......................... 121

Reports ...................................... 1 Hard Rules .............................. 121

Running with PDM.................... 1, 9 Implementing Rules.................. 121

Starting ModelCHECK ................... 1 Integrating with ModelCHECK.... 121,

123
Teacher ...................................... 1
Soft Rules ............................... 121
Using with Windchill ................... 10
RuleCHECK........... 120, 121, 122, 123
ModelCHECK ... 1, 9, 10, 116, 119, 154

ModelCHECK Files

Check Configuration ..................... 7

condition.mcc ........................ 7, 29

config_init.mc ....................... 7, 11

Constant Configuration ................. 7

External...................................... 7

Group....................................... 33

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